Old Legend

Majid Naficy

Are you Rudabeh?
Am I Zal*?
You have cut your hair
And I have no lasso.
Ahoy!
Do you hear me
From where I stand?
No!
Neither you have a royal balcony
Nor I have a rising ground.
Do you have that much strength in love
To become naked as me
And speak from your heart fearlessly?

The music has stopped
And the musicians are long gone.
Every night I return home
Press the answering machine
And there is no sign of you.
No!
You are gone
And I am still captured by the same legend.

I look inside myself
And compare my merits
With my one flaw .
Could not my weak eyes
Be seen by you as a strength
The same way that was Zal’s white hair was for Rudabeh?

I know!
I am only enchanted by an old legend:
The love that brought Zal and Rudabeh together
And empowered them to look from that height
At the nearby low houses.

November 7, 1996

*- According to The Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran written in the 11th century by Ferdowsi, Zal, the father of Rostam the Iranian Hercules, was albino and after birth was abandoned by his father Sam in Alborz Mountain. The mythological bird Simorgh picked and raised him with her children, and Zal returned to society as a young man. Rudabeh, the daughter of the king of Kabol, in spite of his white hair fell in love with him and threw her hair down for Zal to come up to her balcony but he used his lasso.

افسانه‌ی قدیمی

مجید نفیسی

آیا تو رودابه‌ای
و من زال؟
گیسویت را بریده‌ای
و مرا کمندی نیست.
آی!
آیا از اینجا که ایستاده‌ام
صدای مرا می‌شنوی؟
نه!
نه ترا ایوان کوشکی‌ست
نه مرا پشته‌ی خاکی.
آیا ترا در عشق چندان توان هست
که چون من بی‌جامه شوی
و بی‌واهمه از دل خود سخن بگویی؟

سازها از صدا افتاده‌اند
و نوازندگان دیریست که رفته‌اند.
من هر شب به خانه برمیگردم
پیامگیر را می‌زنم
و از تو نشانی نیست.
نه!
تو رفته‌ای
و من هنوز اسیر همان افسانه‌ام.

در خود می‌نگرم
و هنرهای خود را
در برابر یک آهوی خود میگذارم.
آیا چشمهای کمسوی من نمی‌توانست
در چشم تو, حُسنی به شمار آید
آنچنان که گیس سپید زال, رودابه را؟

می‌دانم!
من تنها شیفته‌ی یک افسانه‌ی قدیمی‌ام:
عشقی که زال و رودابه را بیکدیگر کشانید
و به هر دو توان آن داد که از فراز بلندیها
به خانه‌های پست مجاور بنگرند.

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