Release at the Garden // Ode to Forough

i wish i could take you to the gardens in Abyaneh

your hand warm in mine as finches play and

peck

at the seed seed seeeeeds on the garden’s floor

finches peck at seed

seed seed seed seeeeeeeeeeds

a stream of crystalline desert mountain water routes through the garden

flora drink up moisture

i show you the cob shack in the corner

a lovely shack fashioned from the lands

orangy-red

dirt

i lay a soft blanket on the shack floor, light an oil lamp, and start a small warm fire

the glow illuminates the moon of your face

ripe

yellow apples

i feed you soft sweet ripe yellow apples i picked from the garden trees

and plums plums plums

and apricots oh apricots! fleshy juicy sweet

apricots

and ghooreh ghooreh ghooreh

ghooreh green green unripe ghooreh

lips twisting in

sour deliciousness

i give you a loghmeh with the bakers fresh lavash

some soft butter

and aziz’s aged apple molasses sacred sacred

sticky sticky

liquid dripping

you lap the liquid gold off your fingers

we thrive in our field of wildflowers

finches hop hop hop from branch to branch

i adorn your obsidian black hair with small wildflowers

panirak

i give you flowers i picked on our walk to the garden

you play gently with the petals

and slurp the sweet nectar

only the flora and fauna know us and our relations

i exhale clouds of wild desert flora in your lungs

then i dance for your delectation

we are the sweet secret of the village

the vulture looms over us in protection

villagers garden to the melodies unknowingly

seeping from our secret songs