By Roya Monajem, Tehran

Trying to deal with a heavy Friday (having the same air as Sundays in the West), quite expectable considering what has been going on in the past few months, so quiet that even the park nearby appears to be almost vacant compared to other Friday nights, judging from the number of cars passing by, as though it is already over midnight, I appealed to the Oracle of Hafez, as it is a tradition among Iranians, and this was the answer:

دیشب به سیل اشک ره خواب می‌زدم

نقشی به یاد خط تو بر آب می‌زدم

Last night I drove away sleep with the flood of tears

Drawing an image on water in the memory of your line

Beholding beloved's brow in the eyes and the burnt cloak

Drinking wine in the memory of altar's corner

The beloved's visage manifesting in my sight

I, kissing the face of moonlight from a far distant

My eyes to the barman, my ears to the harp

Divining future with eyes and ears in this regard

The imagery image of your face till daybreak

Was all that I drew in the eyes' workshop

Every bird of thought which flew away from the branch of words

With the curve of your hairs, I stroke back with the pick

With the rhyme of my lyric, barman turning round the wine cup

I, composing this hymn and drinking pure wine

Fine is Hafez's state and the divination: feat of wish and desire

I, drinking in the name of Life and the State of friends

Wow! Such a beautiful alternative! In the name of Life and the State of friends! Is it idealistic? Utopian? It might not considering that fortunately we have put behind the astrological age of Pisces, (the age of emperors, kings, gurus, masters and the lot), and have entered the age of Aquarius (the age of friendship).

A few nights ago, on another heavy dark night of the week, this was the answer:
 

بر سر آنم که گر زدست برآید

دست به کاری زنم که غصه سرآید

I am intending if it be in hand

Do something to end the grief

The spectacle of heart is not the place of dualities

When the devil goes out, the angel comes in

The dialogue of darkness' rulers is as long as the year's longest night

Ask Sun for the light, with the hope: daybreak will come

At the door of the world's inhuman lords and masters

How long would you sit waiting for the One to arrive

Don't abandon pauper-ship as you'll find treasure

From the point of view of a seeker who passes by

The righteous and sinful showed their commodities

We'll see what would be accepted who would catch the eyes

You the enamored nightingale, ask for a longer life

For gardens keep turning green and flowers blooming

Hafez's ignorance is not strange in this dwelling place

Anybody who went into the tavern left it in ignorance

The last word in the last verse of Hafez's above lyric, associates a verse in the Koran: …Indeed man is cruel and ignorant. In what sense? In the sense of accepting the heavy burden of Trustee which when offered to mountains, they bowed down, and the skies pushed it back…

Can our Mother-Earth forgive us for all the cruelties our species has manifested on her bosom?

And what is the opposite of ignorance? Perhaps it is the remembrance of the imperative: To put behind the shameful past of our human history on earth.

One thing the communist Russia proved was the impossibility of removing religious beliefs from human psyche. It is like deleting some genes from human genome. The inner and outer war of Iranianism and Islamism in us is reaching a climax now. It is clearly manifested in the slogan: Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life be sacrificed for Iran.This is a struggle going on for nearly a millennium and a half.

Don't know, perhaps Hafez is right when saying: Humanness is not achieved on this earthy world/Another world should be made and another human from the beginning? Or perhaps we can hopefully start some kind of negotiation or discourse with him in this regard.

The dialogue of darkness' rulers is as long as the year's longest night

Ask Sun for the light, with the hope: daybreak will come

And it came. Friday night is over and a new day has started. The good news of yesterday was that despite all precautions taken the green wave sang its song in the most popular football game of the country between the teams Independence (estqla'l) and Victory (pirouzi) and Saturday is the first working day of the week here and no doubt that universities will continue singing the green song.

And by accident, just found out that this week is apparently the week of friendship: So Happy friendship week of the age of friendship.

... Payvand News - 10/05/09 ... --

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