Iftikhar Arif
FIVE POEMS
Translated by Naomi Lazard
ON THE SHORE OF MEMORY
In the way that it happens, on the Embankment,
a new face begins to flicker into flame
behind my eyes. It brings back another time,
a tender evening just like this one
on the shore of our own muddy river.
We were silent but together; only our eyes
spoke their untranslatable language.
But the way our hands touched
released my body into its entire spectrum of color.
Because of this the worlds became one?
the secret region of my soul and Einstein's universe
joined forces to make us immortal.
At that moment who could have dared to imagine
what seas the barque of our dreams would sail,
what shores would have received us
by the time the late afternoon sun
sent its rays through the lowest leaves?
Now the years have gone the way years go,
You are engrossed with your own life,
familiar details of decor and family,
while here, by the Thames,
another face moves into flames inside my eyes.
49