Desert Flower
Like a Desert Flower
by Parween Faiz Zadah Malaal
Like a desert flower waiting for rain,
like a river-bank thirsting for the touch of pitchers,
like the dawn
longing for light;
and like a house,
like a house in ruins for want of a woman -
the exhausted ones of our times
need a moment to breathe,
need a moment to sleep,
in the arms of peace, in the arms of peace.
Translated from Pashto by Dawood Azami. This poem is taken from Da Khazaan Tilayee Ploona (The Golden Footsteps of Autumn) published in Peshawar in 2002.
visit the excellent Poetry Translation Center website for more info and lots of other great poems.
