Origin
I did not come on a midnight train
and not on a barge.
I cannot make it sound like the chains
that Africa cut loose to be free
on ships that no storm could devour.
I had not stolen a kiss from the snake,
and I did not fall out
of my mother's womb.
If I had dreamt,
it was not the golden dream
of any rush to fame or fortune.
I could not have rushed;
I was stalled on the rack of time
between two seas
that howled endlessly.Copyright 1996 by Ali Zarrin
Other poems by Ali Zarrin:
* Made you mine America
* A Word with MajestyTHE IRANIAN Webguide's Poetry section
Ali Zarrin was born in Kermanshah, Iran in 1952 and immigrated to the USA in 1970. He received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington at Seattle. He has published four books of verse in Persian and four in English. Also author of "The Interplay of Self & Other" in "Selected Iranian Short Stories, 1906-1979" (UMI Research P, 1993). Translated into several languages, his works have appeared in numerous international anthologies. He has performed his poetry on radio and TV programs and entertained audiences in many cities and countries. Presently teaching English at the University of Colorado at Denver, he has taught at a number of colleges and universities around the USA.