BARAYE IRAN│FOR IRAN

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Hints of cardamom, jasmine, and rose water tease your nostrils to ease in closer
But you can’t go there anymore
For your ancestors still wince at the memory of the burn 

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Though you’ve never met, you long to dwell in her temples and mosques 
To visit the Caspian sea –where your father was still whole
A sense of wonder with which you’re awe struck 

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Mesmerized by the movement of her hips
Sights, scents, sweets, and sours you’ve grown impossibly close to
And yet, still miss the mark 

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
A foreign experience with which you’re estranged
Though you pray to grow nearer
Reflecting on her undeniable impact​

Have you ever been in love with a stranger?
Salivating as gheimeh over tadig passes you by
Your stomach aching from too much lavashak, though you stay wanting more
So you pray for a reunion, merely a visit 

To be in love with a stranger
The tension between you and a home you’ve never been
I suppose it’s better to have witnessed her from afar
Than never to have been touched by her power at all 

Published in Songs of the Earth, Nov 2024 by the LA Public Library; originally written November 30, 2022 for The Immigrants' Cookbook

​Watch the live reading here.