Seven Sacred Songs
by Majid Naficy
I. Eve's Song
My breasts are beautiful,
And my buttocks even more.
Why not be naked?
Why not make one naked?
Oh, waters of Eden,
Pouring into four rivers,
Be my witness.
I saw my nakedness in your mirror,
And God forgave me not.
We were coming
From behind big fig trees,
And our kisses were blooming
Like bits of ripe fig.
Adam's fingers
Were sliding down my skin
Like a searching snake,
And fig leaves one by one
Were falling from my body.
Then we heard the sound
Of your fearsome strides
And the lightning of your wrath
Struck us down.
Do not peek
From behind high thatched walls.
A wide world
Is opening before us.
II. Cain's Song
I made a porridge of my wheat
To repay your water-carrier clouds.
But you were more pleased
With Abel’s fat lamb.
He is my brother.
Every morning he comes out
From behind his sooty stone pen
And drives his flock
Beyond my rain-fed farm
Every evening
He gives me milk
And receives bread.
We milk into one pail.
We bake bread in one oven.
We lie down on one earth.
We open our eyes to one sun.
I can do without your fatherly love
And give my sorrow to my brother
So that he plays it like a flute
And I send you back this bloody dagger
That you have thrown to me.
III. Abraham's Song
The horns of this ram charm
And his eyes talk to me.
No! I will not sacrifice him
In place of my son.
My soul is revolted at shedding blood.
My Lord,
I offer you this song
Because a beautiful word
Is the best proof of admiration
And gratitude.
IV. Moses' Song at Death
I was eighty years old
When I began this journey.
Now I am a hundred and twenty.
The earth does not smell of
Fresh plowing anymore
And God's fire in the mountain
No longer warms me.
From my rebellious generation in Egypt
Only a few have remained
And the wrath of God in the desert
Annihilated all the rest.
I was free only in Egypt
When, in the quarrel between a Jewish farmer
And an Egyptian constable,
I did not remain silent.
From here I can see
The Promised Land, Canaan.
Oh, you River of Jordan,
Do not cry.
Do not cry for me.
I want to die here
On this border mountain.
V. Ruth's Song
Ah! What a sweet smell
Comes from this threshing floor.
In my homeland, though,
Wheat has just become ripe.
The man that I love here
Is sleeping by a heap of chaff.
I am not a Jew,
But the oracles have told me
That David, the King of Jews,
And Jesus, the lord of Christians,
Will be born of my descendants.
Oh, God,
Do not unsheathe their swords
And make their hearts gentle.
Give David a beautiful voice
Such that he sings of the pains of exile
And give Jesus a healing hand
Such that he gives hope to the hopeless
And do not take from them
The power of weeping
So that they sob like me
In this quiet night.
There is a footstep
And the light of a lantern.
I hide myself beneath an old blanket
And become filled with the aroma of wheat.
VI. Ezra's Song
The god of Babylonia
Forced us into exile,
Destroyed our temple,
Put our women in servitude,
Cut off our men's heads,
And gave our dead to vultures.
The Jewish God turned His back on us
And called Nebuchadnezzer
The whip of His wrath.
Now we build a New Jerusalem
And shouts of our joy
Mingle with cries of our grief.
No matter if Jews
Have married Gentiles.
Let us all gather at this tall wall
And cry out in one voice
Towards the dark sky,
“Oh, you blood-shedding gods,
We do not want you.
Stay on your heavenly thrones
And leave alone the soil of the earth.”
Only our gentle hands
Can rebuild this wall.
VII. Job's Song
Curse you, oh day!
The day that I lost hope in God
And found myself lonely.
Praise to you, oh day!
The day that I believed in myself
And was filled with hope.
Hail honesty in despair!
Hail honesty in despair!
January 4, 1991
هفت ترانهی مقدس
مجید نفیسی
یك: ترانهی حوا
پستانهای من زیباست
و سُرینهای من زیباتر.
چرا برهنه نبودن؟
چرا برهنه نكردن؟
ای آبهای عدن
كه به چار رود میریزید
گواه من باشید!
من برهنگی خود را
در آینهی شما دیدم
و خدا بر من نبخشید.
از پشت انجیربُنهای بزرگ میآمدیم
و بوسههای ما
چون دانههای رسیدهی انجیر میشكفت.
انگشتان آدم
چون ماری كنجكاو
بر پوست من میلغزید
و برگهای ساتر، دانهدانه
از اندام من فرومیریخت.
آنگاه صدای گامهای ترسناك ترا شنیدیم
و آذرخشِ خشم تو
ما را بر زمین فروكوبید.
از پشت دیوارهای بلند گلین
دزدانه نگاه مكن!
جهان گستردهای
در برابر ما دامن گشوده است.
دو: ترانهی قابیل
از دانه های گندم خود
حلیمی فراهم كردم
تا مزدِ سقايِ آسمانی ترا داده باشم
اما دنبهی برهی هابیل
ترا خوشتر آمد.
او برادر من است
هر صبح
از پشت سنگچین دودزدهی آغل
بیرون میآید
و رمهی خود را
به آنسويِ دیمزار من میكشاند
و هر غروب، شیر مرا میدهد
و نان خود را میستاند.
ما در یك بادیه، شیر میدوشیم
ما در یك تنور، نان میپزیم
ما بر یك خاك، سر مینهیم
ما بر یك خورشید، چشم میگشائیم.
من از مهرِ پدرانهی تو بینیازم
و غم خود را به برادرم میدهم
تا آن را چون نیلبكی بنوازد
و این دشنهی خونین را
كه تو به جانب من پرتاب كردهای
به سوی تو باز میفرستم.
سه: ترانهی ابراهیم
شاخهای این قوچ، سحر میكنند
و چشمهایش با من حرف میزنند.
نه! من او را بجای پسرم
قربانی نخواهم كرد
كه جانم از ریختن خون، بیزار است.
معبود من!
به تو این ترانه را پیشكش میكنم
كه گفتنِ لفظی زیبا
بهترین نشانهی سپاس و ستایش است.
چهار: ترانهی موسی هنگام مرگ
هشتادساله بودم كه این سفر را آغاز كردم
اكنون صدوبیستسالهام.
زمین دیگر بويِ شخمِ تازه نمیدهد
و آتشِ خدا در كوهستان
مرا دیگر گرم نمیكند.
از نسلِ یاغی من در مصر
تنها چند تن بهجاماندهاند
و آتشِ خشم خدا در بیابان
دیگران را بهتمامی نابود كرده است.
من تنها در مصر، آزاد بودم
وقتی كه در جدالِ برزگر یهودی
با گزمهی مصری
خاموش نَنِشستم.
از این جا می توانم كنعان:
سرزمین موعود را ببینم.
آه، ای رود اردن!
مویه مكن
بر من مویه مكن
میخواهم بر همین كوهمرز بمیرم.
پنج: ترانهی روث
چه بوی خوشی میدهد این خرمنجا!
در سرزمین من اما گندمها
تازه بهبارنشستهاند.
مردی را كه اینجا دوست دارم
در كنار تلی از كاه خوابیده.
من یهودی نیستم
اما هاتفان به من گفتهاند
كه داوود، شاه یهودان
و عیسی، بزرگِ ترسایان
از پشتِ من زاده خواهند شد.
خدایا! شمشیرهاشان را برهنه مكن
و دلهاشان را مهربان ساز.
به داوود صدایی گرم عطا كن
تا از دردهای غربت بخواند
و به عیسی دستی شفابخش
تا نومیدان را امیدوار كند.
توانِ گریستن را از آنها مگیر
تا همچو من
در این شب تاریك بنالند.
صدای پایی میآید
و تابشِ نور فانوسی.
خود را زیر جُلپارهای پنهان میكنم
و از بوی گندم پُر میشوم.
شش: ترانهی عِزرا
خدای بابل، ما را آواره كرد
معبد ما را ویران ساخت
زنان ما را بهبردگی برد
مردان ما را سربرید
و مردگان ما را
به كركسان سپرد.
خدای یهود به ما پشت كرد
و بختالنصر را
تازیانهی خشم خود خواند.
اكنون اورشلیمِ نو را بنا میكنیم
و فریادهايِ شادیمان
با نالههايِ اندوهمان
درهممیآمیزند.
ناروا نیست اگر یهودیان
همسرانِ نایهود گرفته باشند.
بگذار همگان
در زیر این دیوار بلند گرد آئیم
و یك صدا بسوی آسمان، غریو كشیم
كه ای خدایانِ خونریز!
شما را نخواستیم
در كرسیهای عرشتان بمانید
و زمینِ خاكی را رها كنید.
تنها دستهای مهربان ماست
كه میتواند این دیوار را پی افكند.
هفت: ترانهی ایوب
نفرین بر تو ای روز
روزی كه از خدا نومید شدم
و خود را تنها یافتم.
آفرین بر تو ای روز
روزی كه به خود باور كردم
و از امید پُر شدم.
درود به صداقت در نومیدی!
درود به صداقت در نومیدی!
چهارم ژانویه هزارونهصدونودویک
Mansour:
Dear Majid,
Thank you for sharing Seven Sacred Songs. I enjoyed reading them in both languages. I hope your creative imagination continues to grow in the coming year. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and, given the blessing of the Kovet 19 vaccine, a Happy New Year. I hope some day we can celebrate the birth of Jesus together with a glass of wine. I became a Jesus fan when I read in the Bible ( John 2:1-11) that once, at the age of twelve, his Mom took him to a Roman wedding party where the host ran out of wine. Jesus’s Mom decided to help the host by turning to her son and saying, “they have no more wine.” Jesus replied, “woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” His Mom turned to the servants and said, “do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “fill the jars with water;” so they filled them to the brim. He then asked them “now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” The master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” As you see, in Roman weddings and banquets, first they served high quality wine and after the guests were tipsy, they served them cheap wine and nobody could tell the difference. The unique nature of Jesus’s wine making was that he refused to cheat the guests and believed they deserve high quality wine even when they are tipsy.
One reason I have become an admirer of Jesus’s miracle and good taste is that the Prophet I inherited at birth, Mohammad, had a confusing or instrumental view of wine. For there are three different verses in the Quran about wine consumption. In the beginning of his mission, he suggested moderation in wine drinking. A few years later, he said it is improper to pray while intoxicated. And in the position of power when his soldiers got drunk and caused havoc, he prohibited wine drinking. As was the case during prohibition in the U. S., the smugglers welcomed his decision while he was alive and continue to do so wherever prohibition is the law.
Warm Regards,
Mansour
Mehdy:
I put both version in the page m.b. It is a nice poem with history, where human beings are better than the Gods they use to obey.
Firoozeh Khatibi, Radio Host:
Last night I read your poem at the beginning of the program again and with your permission I like to read these for New Year’s special program?
Fereidoun Farahanduz:
So moving and mesmerizing. Thanks so very much.
Lillian Boraks Nemetz:
Dear Majid
As always your poems touch the heart
And the imagination. You have led us into the land of our forefathers which
They left for us to cope in hardship as they had to do. The saga continues.
I love the progression from Eve to Ruth
The latter being the agent that unites us. The former a beautiful innocent
Punished for a crime she didn’t understand .
I love the image of wheat. For bread is a sacred food.
Thank you for all this bounty
Warmest
Lillian
Mike Simms, the Editor of Vox Populi:
Dear Majid,
Your beautiful poem Seven Sacred Songs is featured in Vox Populi today.
Thank you! Here is the link:
https://wp.me/p4xqzG-eS4
Rosemary Boehm:
Extraordinary. Beautiful. Full of truths. Powerful. Wow!
Sharyn:
Not a theme I would have expected but really well done!
Pranabaxom:
So powerful and extraordinarily beautiful. The Song of Eve blown me away.
Jahangir Sedaghatfar:
Thank you Majid. A novel thought expressed poetic, and thought provoking.
Ed Rosenthal:
Lovely poems.
pvcann:
Breathtaking!
Casey:
Aww!! This is absolutely lovely.