Pages

Sunday, September 28, 2008

What Should We Do About...


Bubbles
Photo by Katy Brown, Davis



WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT THAT MOON?
—Hafiz

A wine bottle fell from a wagon
And broke open in a field.

That night one hundred beetles and all their cousins
Gathered

And did some serious binge drinking.

They even found some seed husks nearby
And began to play them like drums and whirl.
This made God very happy.

Then the "night candle" rose into the sky
And one drunk creature, laying down his instrument,
Said to his friend—for no apparent
Reason,

"What should we do about that moon?"

Seems to Hafiz
Most everyone has laid aside the music

Tackling such profoundly useless
Questions.


(translated from the Farsi by Daniel Ladinsky)

_______________


—Medusa