It’s advent.
It’s still getting darker.
The earth is drained of colour, finally covered in snow, waiting for spring.
People are on the move, looking for a place to rest safely.
It’s a waiting time.
Waiting for the wilderness to bloom again.
Parween Faiz Zadah Malaal is from Afghanistan is one of the most popular poets writing in Pashto. Her poem about waiting of was translated in workshop with Dawood Azami at the Poetry Translation Centre. You can find the original and literal translation here:
Like a Desert Flower
Like a desert flower waiting for rain,
like a river-bank thirsting for the touch of pitchers,
like the dawn
longing for light;
and like a house,
like a house in ruins for want of a woman –
the exhausted ones of our times
need a moment to breathe,
need a moment to sleep,
in the arms of peace, in the arms of peace.
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