TWO_ YEARS OF TENSION, YEARS OF STONE

When I lie down on the bed of dreams,
I hear the melancholy, yet mellow sound of a bell.
The dawning day, in my heart, gleams.
The sound of awakening children knell.
They slowly and solely sing my sorrow,
A musicless, yet harmonious verses of sad eyes.
Should my fire of life lasts till tomorrow,
I worship that fire, which in my heart lies.
At night when skies are lit by stars,
And I listen intensely to hear
The war of planets which has left scars.
The fading music in my ears is so dear.

Years of tension have come, years of stone had gone.
And strangely for those years I long.
And lying on the bed of dreams, I have none;
Neither tension, nor stone, what have I done wrong?
*
Aria's return home was one of the happiest days in Anna's eyes. When he had left, he looked like a boy; now he was back as a man, a handsome, tall, muscular man with a mustache which accentuated the beauty of his olive color skin. His attitude and behavior was not the same as three years ago when he had left. He was firm, yet soft spoken, dignified, yet humorous, well dressed, yet casual, and good looking, yet ordinary. He was a man Anna was happy to be his sister. However his demeanor was not very appropriate to their father's taste. In Shahzdeh's eyes, he acted somewhat as though he had forgotten his class, his aristocrat's class. But how could Shahzdeh deny this part of him, the only son he had; while his only daughter was a rebel and did not want to marry like any other girl he knew? How did this happen? Why did both his children turn against him? Aria was not the boy Shahzdeh knew. He could not demand his obedience. Every time they discussed something, he would lose his concentration by his son's logical words about their ways of life. He did not look like the son he had raised and hoped to be like him. He blamed America for this new behavior and attitude. He cursed himself for sending him there.
Many people in his class had done the same and were not regretful. His son did not act like him, he did not frown when women were around. In fact, he talked to his mother and sister equally vehement as he did to his father. In Shahzdeh's eyes his son was changed by a force that was beyond his control and he did not like it.
Nonetheless, to Anna, her brother had changed from a spoiled, aristocrat boy to an honest, logical, good looking young man. She adored this new man she knew for fifteen years. To her father's extreme surprise, she spent hours in her brother's room, taking in what he told her about America. Shahzdeh thought that was not a propler way for a girl, in her class, to act.
"Tell me about America, Washington, tell me everything." Anna thirstily wanted to know everything; and of couse Aria would exaggerate even more about American way of living, schools, streets, museums, parks, and relationships of opposite sexes to his sister. He would tell Anna about a few girlfriends he had had, things he had done, places he had visited, and freedom in schools he had worshipped. As he would entice Anna by his detailed description more and more, she yearned to flee from suffocation she lived in. He would boast about food, restaurants, his car, and so many ordinary things. Things Aria told her became like an untouchable mirage in Anna's thirsty eyes.
Their ardent discourse, all about America, would prick the hidden awareness of the stifled life she lived in that golden cage. Her brother, unconsciously, was bringing up a wild soul that had been buried in his sister. When he met Anna's fiance, he rudely made fun of him, questioned his credibility, and ignored his father's piercing look. His plan was to run him away from their house, so he would break the engagement and make it easy for him and his sister to get rid of this arranged marriage. It worked. On the third visit, the man was so upset that he left right away and told his parents about the rudeness of Anna's brother and her hysterical laughter. The next day, Anna's engagement ring and other gifts were sent back. Everything was over. As their father was angrily blaming Fatie, his wife's poor background for this incident, Anna and Aria were laughing uncontrollably for their accomplishment.

To be continued