چیستان – شعری از مجید نفیسی

A Riddle

Majid Naficy
For International Workers’ Day

I am not a piece of fruit, rotting
Or a commodity in decay.
I am the product of my own labor.

I am not an ant marching in single file
Or a spider webbing in solitude.
I am pregnant with my commonwealth.

And yet, in the temples of money
I kneel at my inverted idol
And in the markets of exchange
I carry a basket of my warm body
Cut in different shapes.

Now, can you tell me who I am
And what keeps me alive or rather dead?
This is a riddle, simple and stubborn
At a winter fire place.
Is labor the curse of my creator*
Or the story of my creation?

                        January 4, 1986

*- Genesis 3:17-19