Goldfish
By: Samira Ghasemi
Translation: Mohammad Rajabpur
Goldfish! Oh! Goldfish! Dear Goldfish!
Your feet go numb in Mommy’s crystal fishbowl,
Your body’s crying out for the roughness of the rocks,
The drinking water in the fridge is potent poison for your blood,
Your little Heart’s crying out for the saltiness of the seas.
Your fins are craving for a single bubble,
Your gills … thirsty of water,
Your scales … the mirror of light,
You don’t fit in this crystal fishbowl,
Go and see the sea!
Go! Never come back here!
Don’t leave a track or a trail behind!
Your Heart is just a prisoner here,
The Heart that is sky blue.
Follow the trail of the brooks,
You’ll get to the river,
Then the Bluish Green
Will see you, will kiss you and will take you.
Dear Goldfish! This is what they call Sea.
You thought you would get used to this bowl little by little,
You would calm down in this lonely and queer place.
But truly you found out, here is just the bowl of sorrow,
The moth and the butterfly die here fluttering their wings.
They say, “A good goldfish always remains in its bowl,
Always tight-lipped beside the Koran on Haftsin tablecloth,
A good goldfish sleeps early, turns little and makes few bubbles”.
They’ve said on and on, “why do you wanna be a whale?
You can be big in this small globe.
Your way’s full of wolves, ravens and cats,
Your way’s full of hazard.
Don’t ever think of going, you’ll get lost”!
They’ve warned you of going towards the sea,
Of becoming aware, of hearing the unheard.
But Goldfish!
Don’t ever get used to your bowl!
Don’t ever get contended with a gulp of water and a piece of bread!
Don’t ever get fooled by their words
To stay in your small bowl forever,
To toss in slime forever!
Having gone, don’t ever miss your pals!
Don’t ever miss cockroaches, flies, lizards and mosquitoes!
Don’t ever miss that pal, who knew of the sea,
But never said a word of it!
Don’t ever let the sea storm make you a vagrant,
Don’t ever weep of the slap of the waves on your ear.
Don’t ever midway regret your going!
Don’t ever come back here!
Don’t ever recoil at the sight of pelicans!
Dear Goldfish!
If the sea is full of sharks and eels,
It is also full of jellyfish in many places.
If at night, the storm and the whirlwind threaten you,
Instead at midday, nowhere you can find such soothing warmth of the sun.
Don’t ever get your feet cold on the pebbles of the shore!
Oh, Goldfish! Go!
Oh, Goldfish! Go!
The sea is yours!
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