Colorful Nightmares كابوس‌هاي رنگي

by Hafizullah Shariati Sahar

February 2, 2022

I stand beside the window

I count trees one by one

There is nobody in the alley

No wandering singer

No Gypsy woman with her children

Only the dress of Layli flutters in the wind

I turn my face

— Love like seasonal clouds drifts over me —

The wind brings autumn leaves into my room

I puff on my cigarette

I confine my breath

I return to the room

On my bed that smells loneliness

I lie down

My eyelids are heavy

In sleep, no one sings to me

No one embraces me

Only — always God —

You sit on the porch

And smoke a cigarette

And I wake up

With colorful nightmares

The wind of sleep rattles the window

The white dress of Layli flutters in the wind

كابوس‌هاي رنگي

كنار پنجره مي‌ايستم

درختان را يكي⁬يكي مي‌شمارم

در كوچه كسي نيست

نه آواز⁬خوانِ دوره⁬گرد

نه زن كولي با بچه‌هايش

تنها پيراهن سپيد ليلي در باد تكان مي‌خورد

صورتم را بر مي‌گردانم

ـ⁬⁬ عشق چون ابر‌هاي موسِمي بر من مي‌گذرد ⁬ـ⁬

‌باد برگ‌هاي پاييزي را به اتاقم مي‌آورد

پُكي به سیگارم مي‌زنم

نفسم را حبس مي‌كنم

به اتاق باز‌مي‌گردم

بر روي تختم كه بوي دل⁬تنگي مي‌دهد

دراز مي‌كشم

پلك‌هايم سنگيني مي‌كند

در خواب، كسي در من آواز نمي‌خواند

كسي به آغوشم نمي‌كشد

تنها ـ⁬⁬ هميشه⁬ی خدا ⁬ـ

تو به ايوان نشسته‌اي

و سیگار دود مي‌كني

و من با كابوس‌هاي رنگي

از خواب مي‌پرم

باد خواب پنجره را به‌هم مي‌زند

.پيراهن سپيد ليلي در باد تكان مي‌خورد

Translated from Persian by Savanna Majarwitz. Majarwitz is a senior at Boston University majoring in International Relations and minoring in Persian Cultural Studies and Human Rights Studies.

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Hafizullah Shariati Sahar

Dr Hafizullah Shariati (Sahar) has been a professor at Ibin-Sina University, Goharshad, Rabia Balkhi, Khatib and Gharjestan in Kabul, Afghanistan. He holds a PhD in literature and linguistics, his doctoral dissertation is the first serious linguistic study of the Hazaragi dialect. For more than twenty years, he has been composing poetry, translating poetry, and studying the literary, cultural, social, and oral culture of the people. Dr Shariati is familiar with Persian, English, Norwegian, Urdu, Arabic and Pashto. He is a colleague of Marefat High School, the managing director of Radio Marefat and a colleague of Radio Neda and Radio Farhang, a member of the editorial board of "Contemporary Literature" and "Farkhar" quarterly. He has been the editor of "Simorgh" weekly, the managing director of "Kara" weekly and "Civil Discourse" quarterly.