UNFULFILLED- Fifteen- ᚙᚙ The Silent Heart

Years changed; they came; they left. When Neda looked back to all those years form the time of her marriage at age sixteen, to now, almost twelve years after, they all looked like a short period, yet they were long, tiring, and boring. She was waiting! Would it be a day that the door opened and Ariana walked in and Neda recognized her right away? Would it be a day that by chance they would meet in the street and by luck they would know each other? "All the women out there, who envy my life, and because of that you call me horrible names, I change place with you in a heartbeat just to have my child with me!"

As Neda grew older, and with that many changes happened to her, her patience, her love for Ariana, and her poems also changed.

Years came and then they disappeared as if they never existed. She joined this group of mountaineers and paid a monthly fee to be a member. There were plenty of them in Tehran of those days. Those people called themselves intellectuals of the time. They travelled north. She wanted to do it on her own; but Sohrab and Kasra convinced her to join this group. One day when she returned from one of these trips, she thought to herself: "Everyone in this group are couples except me. I am all alone. I've always been all alone." She sighed. "Would it be a day that I climb the mountain with Ariana?" She sat at her desk and wrote:

ᚕ

"Towards the night,

The time that the site

Is subdued by a blaze,

Yet mystical dying rays,

So overpowering and mystic,

That even this city looks artistic.

ᚑ

Towards the night,

The time for the artificial light,

Someone may die;

Someone may soar to sky

When the twilight of the day,

Will live all the way.

ᚘ

Towards the night,

In my thoughts with delight

My little child

Brings to my pride

The seeds I planted in earth;

The time I didn't know hurt.

ᚖ

Towards the night,

I always invite

Hands that touched mine;

And brought me sunshine.

But I won't know tomorrow

When night arrives, my sorrow

Will be for the death

Of a hand that gave me breath."

☁

Neda was a prolific poet. She already had seven published books and many others which were not yet but would soon. All the writings were scattered around her apartment. She was still living in the same apartment since they had separated from her parents. She answered Sohrab one day when he asked her why she was not changing her place, or even buying a house:

"Why?"

To Be Continued