The Forbidden: Poems from Iran and its Exiles

Of Your Uncles

58 Of Your Uncles Ahmad Shamlou For little Siavash Not for the sake of the sun but for the sake of a tiny rooftop shadow, not for the sake of epics but for the sake of a song smaller than your hands. Not for the sake of forests or for the sea but for a leaf, for a drop brighter than your eyes. Not for the sake of walls but for the sake of a fence, not for the sake of the world but for the sake of your home and for your childish certainty that each person is a world. For the sake of my wish to be with you even for a moment, for your small hands in my big hands, and my large lips on you innocent cheeks. For the sake of a dove inside a breeze when you shriek with excitement, for the sake of dew on a leaf when you sleep, for the sake of a smile when you see me beside you. 59 For the sake of a ballad, a story on the coldest night, on the darkest night, for your dolls, not for the sake of big people, for a cobble stone path that leads me to you, not for the sake of distant highways. For the sake of a drainpipe when it rains, for the sake of hives and honey bees, for a cloud’s white proclamation in the big serene sky. For your sake, for the sake of everything small and everything pure they fell to the ground. Remember them. I speak of your uncles. I speak of Morteza.* Translated by Sholeh Wolpé *Morteza Keyvan (1922–1954) was an Iranian poet, writer, and journalist who was executed by the Shah’s government a year after the U.S. led coup in Iran against the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh. ...