Your Persian rug
By Farrokh A. Ashtiani
November 20, 2002
The Iranian
Walk on me
..............Walk on me
..............Walk on me
Touch me
..............Touch me
............................Touch me
Open up the windows, let the warm golden dusts of the sun flow in and invigorate
faces and bodies, yours and mine. Let the rays of the sun enhance our colors and
revive our happiness. Come besides me to rejoice the melting pendulum of time, to
recite our poetry and share our memories.
Descend to earth, come capriciously, pour a cup of tea and level with me. Tune the
tar, play a song and fine-tune our continuous ecstasy and harmonious rhapsody. Glance
at the bouquet of wildflowers that I have scattered at your feet, the ones that you
often overlook when you pass by me.
These wildflowers were brought from the grasslands at the foot of mount Sahand, where
once the Garden of Eden stood 7,000 years or so ago. There, butterflies rule the
land, bees follow the butterflies and big bears feast on honey and gorge on blackberries
while reclining on the grass watching the bees and the butterflies drawing their
canvases and performing their dances.
Take a look at your faithful Persian rug.
My soul was created and my wefts were woven on those after-the-fog dawns when the
ruby-colored berries sip water from morning dews. And cast their own beauties inside
the droplets hanging on the edge of their leaves before that fist ray of the sun
rises from the East.
If you ever visit my birthplace, then pause and take a deep breath. Inhale the fresh
air and feel the scent of lupines, soothing aroma of heracleum leaves, and then listen
to the euphonious melody of waterfalls echoing among the rocks in the valley. Hear
the bells of the goats grazing far away on top of the hills. And watch the swallows
fly by you so swiftly like the days of one's life or the farewell of the late day
sun through the yellow autumn leaves.
These flowers are gifts from the lands far away where nature's passion recycles beauty
and gives birth to irises, tulips and hyacinths. Tiny hands of little girls who joyfully
filled their baskets with flowers picked these colorful selections for you and with
their pastel dresses they matched the beauties of the flowers scattered in those
fields. And in the midst of those flowerbeds among butterflies and the bees you could
hear them cheer each time they found a ladybug chasing the ants on the surface of
the leaves.
Like the honeybees that no man can predict the next
motion of their dances and what path they may take in their romances, those little
girls freely went from one flower patch to another in search of the most attractive
blooms. In their excursion they kept brushing their colorful skirts against flowers
and caressing the new blooms. And in their innocence they cross-pollinated flowers
just like butterflies do and the bees. The following spring they will bloom into
many new colors and create a new spectrum for you to see.
Hence I am holding at your feet the best of the wilderness, dandelions and clovers,
gentians and daffodils.
These wild cyclamens were picked and gathered by a young bride wearing a lime colored
dress, henna on her nails, a garnet necklace and shyness in her eyes and her rose-tinted
face. Those majestic fields at the foot of Mount Sahand are the looms for the nature
on which all these wild flowers are the wraps and wefts and the place where most
elegant tapestries of nature are created.
Today is another joyous day so cast a glance at me.
Walk on me
...........Walk on me
.........................Walk on me
.......................................Touch me
.....................................................Touch
me
...................................................................Touch
me
I
am your Persian rug, descend on me.
Look at these wild violets, poppies and forget-me-nots that were gathered for you.
I am that forever-faithful rug, the memory of your parents, and I carry many stories
in my heart and now at your feet.
Don't doubt me. Come sit by me to share our stories and tales of the past and savor
this day or two that our beauties may last. Discover and relish the birthplace of
these wildflowers that I have at your feet:
Pinch the thyme,
touch the chamomile,
and smell the rosemary.
I am your Persian rug, touch me and touch me, cast a beautiful glance on me and then
walk on me.
Please, walk on me.
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