SeyyedArmin Aghili
The Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz
opens,
closes.
Oil does not fall.
It rises again.
From afar, life.
From nearby, explosions.
Night has fallen,
but beneath my eyelids
sleep is still awake.
In the Middle East,
the nights
are longer
than the sleep of its children.
--
“Strait of Hormuz”
original, in Persian
تنگهی هرمز
تنگهی هرمز
باز میشود،
بسته میشود.
قیمت نفت پایین نمیآید.
دوباره بالا میرود.
از دور، زندگی.
از نزدیک، انفجار.
شب شده،
خواب زیر پلکهای من
هنوز بیدار است.
در خاورمیانه،
شبها
بلندتر از
خواب کودکانش است.
“The poem reflects on the human cost of war, particularly its impact on children and civilians who have no role in its causes or consequences, yet are often among those who bear its greatest burden.” —SeyyedArmin Aghili
SeyyedArmin Aghili is a physician and writer from Iran, and the author of two collections of Persian poetry. His poetry has appeared in The Louisville Review and is forthcoming in The Inflectionist Review. His creative nonfiction is forthcoming in Your Impossible Voice.
