It’s a Sensitive Time, My Dear 

      Mahnaz Badihian

A voice I hear in my head

Keeps repeating

It’s a sensitive time, my dear

I wanted to get a luxurious taste from

The love poems by Hafiz

“But it’s a sensitive time, my dear”

One should read poems of protest

By Mahmud Dervish

By Ahmad Shamlou

By Jack Hirschman

I was going to go to the museum

And enjoy new paintings

I have to join the occupy movement

In the city of San Francisco

In the city of Isfahan

I craved a new earring

“But it’s a sensitive time, my dear”

One must help the people in need