Beyond the Seas
I’ll put up a boat,
and set it free off the shore.
I’ll let it take me away-from this eerie land,
where nobody calls up the sleeping heroes-
from their long, lonely trance.
I’ll put up a boat,
and set it free off the shore;
a boat with no net, a boat with no seine,
with my heart cleansed of wish for pearl.
I’ll sail away on the tides.
I’ll sing all along the ride.
Neither the blues of the deeps,
Nor the mermaids, the natives of the seas,
shall captivate me-from my solitary glide.
I’ll move on with pride.
I’ll sail away on the tides,
I’ll sing all along the ride:
“I’ll leave this eerie land behind;
in this land,Truth is forsaken, set aside,
here, no man recalls- how their heroes died,
here, of woman all but silence is denied.
I did not see a torch.
I did not see a loch.
I shall sail away-
for I am tired of the reign of opaque, thick panes,
I am longing for the crystal verse-
of an open space”.
I’ll sail away on the tides;
I’ll sing all along the ride:
“Beyond the seas,
There is another land;
Its windows open to the virtues of lights;
On its roofs, doves constantly stare-at the soar of human mind
Its children walk, with their backpacks full of faith, hope and trust.”
“Beyond the seas,
There is another land.
People there, they care:
for the call of a gentle hill,
for the feel of a brief dream.
Its soil listens to the song of your soul.
Its breeze, spreads in air-the full flavour of flight.
“Beyond the seas,
There is another land;
Its dawn is weightless, vast and white,
with the freshness of a bird’ first flight.
Its poets are heirs of water, wind and light.”
Beyond the seas,
There is another land:
I shall put up a boat,
I will put up a boat.
By: Sohrab Sepehri
Translation: Maryam Dilmaghani, September 2007, Montreal.
(Source: blog.chezmana.com)
