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| Nahid Ensafpour |
Freedom
Like a caterpillar shedding its skin in
its tender metamorphosis to a butterfly
so am I perpetually shedding my skin
each time in fear that I shall lose myself
Yet still I always
find my way to freedom.
My turbulent soul
Oh, brutal storm of my turbulent soul
your rage reaches down
to the depths of my heart
and breaks all that is still whole in me
I can only watch you impotently
shuddering at your power
how can I tame you
and tear off these chains?
You shackle me
your heart is full of greed
ruling my life, shattered
I tremble you tyrant
and finally, I bow down
you sweep me up
and I am yours.
Snowflake
A little snowflake
left the cool cloud with joy
dancing, light as air
it floated down, smiling
till it reached the earth
and vanished.
Wait oh wait just a moment
Wait oh wait just a moment
do not fly from the present
There’s a longing
to dwell in the moment
Such a longing to capture
the moment
You slip from my hand
you roll off my skin
you fly out of my mouth
you flee from my sight
making the present the past
Wait, wait just a moment
Do not be a memory so soon
I run after and pursue you
for how long how often yet
Memory be my life
do not follow behind
come with me
for only you
you alone
you follow me
as my life
as my shadow
as my friend
as I am and I
become you
memory.
Night
Slowly the day
sinks behind the hills
almost as if night comes
creeping softly through the door
and like a mother
gently kissing her child
its dark curtain
descends to envelope all
Trees bend forward
birds silent now
listen intently
as darkness descends
across all of Nature
the silent forest breathing
and resting
then night is
ambushed by daybreak
losing itself
little by little
in the embrace
of the past
and the future.
Candle and butterfly
The fluttering butterfly sought
the light of the brightly burning candle
hovering nearby it watched
the candle’s pain
patient, as it slowly expired
said the butterfly
why so patient as you die
never to lament your pain
the candle said, it’s in my nature
by my demise to light the way.
Oblivion
You were crucified
some 2000 years ago
betrayed
Alone, you bore
the guilt of humanity
on your shoulders
through great pain
and suffering
Now you are lauded
as a prophet
You have forgiven
and for you
love was
the only path
to our salvation
How unutterably sad
that in our times
your suffering
should be so negated by evil
Day for day
countless human beings
are persecuted,murdered
The fruits of evil are evil
while forgiveness descends
into vengeance
Where love is commuted
into possession
no longer regarded as
the pinnacle of goodness
„love your neighbour as yourself“
lives no more.
You have fallen
into oblivion
Your cross now adorns
Storefronts and beneath them
lie crucified your neighbours.
The sun in me
The darkness falls
across the land
The gloom drives
life into nothingness
The people all vanish
in the blink of an eye
The doors close
one after the other
Everywhere, the seeds
of fear and the harvest
of despair
The devil peers
at the people
light held in hand
And quickly
I shut the doors
cover the windows
to hide the sun
living deep in my heart
from the devil.
A land where silence rules
A land where silence rules
and speech is banned
People are softly humming a melody
the command goes out to be silent
and lips are sewn closed
The eyes are seeking an answer
the command goes out to look away
and eyes are blindfold shut
Hands are reaching out in vain
for support the command goes out
and hands are bound
Feet are looking for a way out
and stamping loudly
the command goes out
and feet are shackled
Silence rules life here
one day a door opens
on a graveyard of people
silent for all eternity
Nature breaks the silence
with a rumbling roar of thunder
The stormy winds blast
away the dust of yesteryear
rain washes off the infamy
and warm sunshine bathes life
then a nightingale sings
the lament of the Silent.
When life consists of constraints
When life consists of constraints
your breath is tight in your chest
your skin feels only the cold
Uncertain of day or night
the shivering heart seeks
warmth in vain
Like a new-born caterpillar
attempting to perform
the incredible transformation
into a butterfly
breathing in life
I have been waiting
so long to be born.
Translated from German into English by Marion Godfrey
Nahid Ensafpour, (Iran, Germany), She is a bilingual writer, poet and translator, who was born in Tehran. Since 1985 she lives in Germany/Köln. In April 2015, she completed the correspondence course "Literary Writing" at the Cornelia Goethe Academy, Frankfurt/Main and graduated with a diploma. She studied New German Literature and Philosophy at the Fern-Universität Hagen. Her poems have been published in numerous German and international anthologies. Many of her poems have been translated into several languages. She is a member of the World Writers' Association "Licio Poetico de Benidorm", as well as a member of the Schiller Association Leipzig and the Hainburger Writers' Association Austria. She is a member of PEN Club in Austria. In 2016, she was a prize winner at the poetry festival in Rödermark/ Germany.
She has published the following: (2014) Book of poems "Brennende Sehnsucht", Frankfurter Verlag, (2016) Poetry collection "Gesang des Augenblicks", Frankfurter Verlag, (2018) Poetry collection published together with Peter Völker "Sonnentanz und Nachtschatten", Engelsdorfer Leipzig, (2019) Book of poems "Leise weht das Wort dahin," Engelsdorfer Leipzig, (2020) Book of poems "Poetry overcomes boundaries". (2024) “The grail of lost dreams”, a multilingual anthology from fourteen countries, translated to Farsi by Nahid Ensafpour.