If, per chance, I were to catch a glimpse
of the radiance of your face

my sorrows would have no choice
but to stumble into the light

The knife of our separation has cut me:
tears of blood
streams upon streams
rivers upon rivers

Not wanting to wait like lazarus in my tomb
I become the wind, searching for you
street by street
door by door

Then I see my heart has woven your love
into its fiber
strand by strand
atom by atom

Your radiance is written
into the poem of my life
verse by verse
word by word

-Tahireh

***

Painting by Carmen Costello

Calligraphy by Ari Honarvar

Copyright © 2013 Carmen Costello and  Ari Honarvar