Five Women

      

By Majid Naficy


At sunrise
In hills by the seaside
I descend 189 steps
And then climb 189 steps
Five times without pause
In the name of my mother and four sisters
And start and finish each round
In honor of each one:

The first round for a joyful mother
The second, a gentle angel
The third, a Gordafarid* without a mask
The fourth, an apprehensive Hamlet
And the fifth, a painter of pain.

When for the final time
I climb the last landing
I hang a string of beads
Which I have been threading
Around my neck
And return home, happily.

        May 11, 2015

*- A female warrior in the epic of Shahnameh, composed by Ferdowsi(935-1020) in Persian. Gordafarid  hides her identity by wearing a mask.