Sa'id Naficy (1954-82)

 

The Father of Fathers
        Twenty-One Poems for My Father


Four.

Three Gifts

by: Majid Naficy


One day my father called us and said:
“I have three gifts for you:
A red heart, an hourglass, and...”
Oh God, I don't remember the other one.

Mehdy took the heart
Opened its two halves
And touched their trembling strings.

I took the hourglass
And along its white sands
I fell from one half to the other
Asking myself:
“What can be done in three minutes?”

And Sa’id
At age ten went to Paris
For heart surgery
And at age twenty-nine
He was executed in Tehran.

I remember him.
He had red cheeks
And strong hands.

March 4, 1994

Poems

1: Sword at the Ablution Pool, 2:  In Temescal Canyon, 3: Red earmuffs, 4: The Father of Fathers, 5:  Forgetfulness

https://iroon.com/irtn/blog/17256/the-father-of-fathers-4-three-gifts/