Parveen Shakir Translations

Picnic by Parveen Shakir loose translation by Michael R. Burch My friends laugh elsewhere on the beach while I sit here, alone, counting the waves, writing and rewriting your name in the sand ... Confession by Parveen Shakir loose translation by Michael R. Burch Your image overwhelmed my vision. As the long nights passed, I became obsessed with your visage. Then came the moment when I quietly placed my lips to your picture ... *** Rain by Parveen Shakir loose translation by Michael R. Burch Why shiver alone in the rain, maiden? Embrace the one in whose warming love your body and mind would be drenched! There are no rains higher than the rains of Love, after which the bright rainbows of separation will glow with the mysteries of hues. My Body's Moods by Parveen Shakir loose translation by Michael R. Burch I long for the day when you'll be obsessed with me, when, forgetting the world, you'll miss me with a passion and stop complaining about my reticence! Then I may forget all other transactions and liabilities to realize my world in your arms, letting my body's moods guide me. In that moment beyond boundaries and limitations as we defy the conventions of veil and turban, let's try our luck and steal a taste of the forbidden fruit! *** Moon by Parveen Shakir loose translation by Michael R. Burch All of us passengers, we share the same fate. And yet I'm alone here on earth, and she alone there in the sky! *** Vanity by Parveen Shakir loose translation by Michael R. Burch His world is so simple, so very different from mine. So distinct—his dreams and desires. He speaks rarely. This morning he wrote: "I saw some lovely flowers and thought of you." Ha! I know my aging face is no orchid ... but how I wish I could believe whatever he says, however momentarily!