Two Poems by Yadollah Royai

Sea Poems: #3

Silence was a bouquet of roses
in my throat.

The song of the seashore
was the breeze from my kiss and your open eyelids. 

Over the waters, the wind bird
was unsettled among the nest of a thousand voices.
Over the waters,
the bird was restless.

The sounds of wet thunder
and light, the wet flare of lightning,
forged a mirror in the waters
that had a bright frame of sea flames.

The breeze from a kiss,
……………………………your eyes,
…………………………………….and the wind bird
………………………………………………………….turned to fire and smoke
………………………………………………………….in my throat.
………………………………………………………….Silence was the bouquet of roses.

Sea Poems: #3

سكوت دسته­ گلی بود
ميان حنجره­ ی من

،ترانه ­ی ساحل
.نسيم بوسه ­ی من بود و پلک باز تو بود

،بر آب­ ها پرنده­ ی باد
.ميان لانه ­ی صدها صدا پريشان بود
،بر آب­ ها
.پرنده، بی­ طاقت بود

،صدای تندر خيس
،و نور، نورتر آذرخش
در آب، آينه­ ای ساخت
.كه قاب روشنی از شعله­ های دريا داشت

نسيم بوسه و
پلک تو و……………………
،پرنده­ ی باد……………………………….
شدند آتش و دود………………………………………………………
،ميان حنجره­ ی من………………………………………………………
.سكوت، دسته­ گلی بود………………………………………………………

Sea Poems: #4

Twenty-four lit houses
have ferried the body of light
through the yellow blood of the moment.

Day is here!

As if the mind
were sitting on the cold body of waters.

Now the shore—
………….a conscious mirror—
man—the image tree—
and words, and all the flowers and fruits.

A white horse passing…

Sea Poems: #4

،بیست و چهار منزل روشن
،اندام نور را
.در خون زرد لحظه، گذر داده ­اند

!روز آمده است

انگار هوش آدمیان
.در جسم سرد آب نشسته است

!آنک کرانه
– آینه ای آگاه –…………..
– انسان – درخت تصویر
.و حرف ­ها، همه گل­ ها و میوه­ ها

…اسبی سپید می­ گذرد

Yadollah Royai (b. 1932) is a seminal figure in modern and experimental Iranian poetry. His work is linguistically and philosophically complex. It relies on ambiguity and wordplay to create multiple meanings and connotations. Although Royai’s poetry is not overtly political, some of his poems do deal with socio-political themes in subtle and philosophical ways. Royai has won many awards, received the Chevalier from the French Ministry of Culture, and been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. There have also been a number of books written in Persian about his work and influence.

Kaveh Bassiri is an Iranian-American writer and translator. He is the recipient of a 2019 translation fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His translations have been published in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Guernica, Colorado Review, Two Line, World Literature Today, and The Massachusetts Review. His chapbook 99 Names of Exile, the winner of the Anzaldúa Poetry Prize, will be published in 2019.