Letter to an Old Love

That night, the city lights were stars

I was hovering among them like a cloud

Lost and ecstatic in your presence,

Feeling no traffic, no sound, no smog

Willing to go to the end of the world.

You said our future was a walk

From Azadi Square to Zanjan Park

But I, at the end of the walk,

Saw a house with you

Like the first lady of a Shah.

You said how busy was your life

With your exams and studies

And the medical civil service  

But I heard you saying “wait for me”

So I waited and waited for three years.

For three years, I picked up the phone at 9:00

We talked until 9:30 at night

You listened to my every single poem

And I saved your mesmerizing voice

Your laughter, in my ear until the next call.

For three years, every single weekend we met

I cherished every kiss at dark, every hug in cabs,
The smell of Safari on my hands

And could not get you off my skull

Even for a second of time till the next meeting.

But at the end of three years of homeless love

You started dogging me bad

Blaming me for all the mistakes I did not make

And I apologized for every wrong I had not done

Until the night I cried and threw away

The perfume, the gold bracelet, the scarf

The T-shirt, the blue back pack, the books

The dried bouquets, the box of candy wraps,
Gum wraps, gift wraps, your poems

And you!