عشق آمریکایی من (هفده. چه کسی رشک‌انگیزتر است؟)

My American Love

        Thirty-Two Poems for Wendy

Seventeen.

Who Is More Envied? 

by

Majid Naficy

Who is more envied:

The one who goes to work

In her silver Corolla every morning

Or I who walk to the seaside

With a stick in my hand?

I envy her

Who in half an hour

Will climb stairs

Push open a door

And be welcomed with the scent of coffee,

“Hi’s” and smiles.

But before my shoes

Become heavy from envy

I carry myself to the coastal path

Over a highway overpass

And next to seagulls

I walk with my thoughts.

When I return home

To write my new poem

In the style of “Assyrian Tree”*

I see my answering machine blinking.

She envies my leisure

And is ready to trade

Her paycheck with my benefit.

Perhaps after years of longing 

She can finally write

A play about her job.

        October 7, 2013

*- “The Assyrian Tree” is a debate poem between a goat and palm tree written in Parthian language in ancient Iran. 

POEMS: 1. On the Bridge, ۲. I Hope the Water Returns, ۳. Empty Baskets ۴. Coffee Maker ۵. Anxious Heart ۶. Washing ۷. Bougainvillea ۸. Simple Truth ۹. Persian-Singing Bird ۱۰. The Gardener ۱۱. Lost Cypresses ۱۲. Visiting the Wall ۱۳. Is Love a Glass of Hormones? ۱۴. Independence Day ۱۵:  Oh, Pain ۱۶. The Season of Picking Raspberries ۱۷. Who Is More Envied?