On both sides of the pond

Sheema Kalbasi & Alessio Zanelli
April 19, 2005
iranian.com

Silence, where the mute ones scream.
Darkness, where the dim ones shine.
One voice, one color, one banner;
one past, one future --
under the very same threat
and cherishing the very same hope.
No expanse in between could be a divide --
never;
for however far the seashores are,
there only is one side.
Definitely, one fate.

Sacred flows the shapeless air --
whispers to the wind as the Peris fly
and when in the crowded valley of mind
the questions arise;
whence comes this splendid faith,
believing in having one voice, one color, one shore,
the sonorous queries push back
and from within the wanderings and doubts
the answers come ashore, no matter how far.

For once there used to be
two or more of everything --
like swords, or hosts, or battlefields;
but now the earth claims its unity aloud,
from depths and heights one cry flows out.
All men do know though many still want to ignore --
the truth:
there’s just one blood.

Tolerating the intolerance,
living in peace while getting along with injustice
for whatever the historical legends
or the religious beliefs
or whomever we are descended from:
Cain, Abel, Seth, Isaac or Ishmael;
the foundation of life is one --
the promise to die
given at birth and never to be broken.

So let that silence burst into one cry,
that darkness burst into one light.
And may there be no secrets,
no lies and no deceits --
two or more may seem to be the sides,
but one is the pond,
one the pristine puddle we all writhe in.
Nobody dare to claim themselves apart,
to oppose one life to another,
to let that founding oath fall through before due.

And when the night comes
and we attempt to rise from the dark,
the oneness is plenty to save us again.

Sheema Kalbasi and Alessio Zanelli

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* Peris: Persian spirits of great beauty who guide mortals on their way to the Land of the Blessed.

Sheema Kalbasi (USA): She is the Director of Dialogue of Nations Through Poetry in Translation, Director of Poetry of Iranian Women and the Poetry Editor of Muse Apprentice Guild. Her works have been published and translated or are forthcoming in various anthologies, literary journals and online magazines. See her weblog. zaneirani.blogspot.com. Features in iranian.com

Alessio Zanelli (Italy): He is widely published in magazines and to his latest credits includs California Quarterly (CA), Möbius (DE), Hadrosaur Tales (NM), Pulsar (UK), Orbis (UK), Poetry Monthly (UK), Focus (UK) and The Journal (UK). He is also the author of two collections: Loose Sheets (UK, 2000) and Small Press Verse & Poeticonjectures (USA, 2003), both available from Amazon and other major bookstores online.