To live is to secrete a pearl within one’s shell,
to forge a gem with concentrated inner flame.
Those who dwell within are no victims of dream.
They compose another world from this one’s dross.
After an anonymous poem in Persian
زندگی در صدف خویش گهر ساختن است
در دل شعله فرورفتن و بگداختن است
مذهب زنده دلان خواب پریشانی نیست
از همین خاک جهان دگری ساختن است
[Per Faranak Rahim “the poet is Eghbal Lahouri”]