Coming Back from the Hemp Plantation

Mohammad Bagher Kolahi Ahari

Persia/ Iran

Coming back from the hemp plantation –
water on one side,
fire on the other –
I’m selling up my shares to the Company
to free myself of the rheumatism
that visits me each night.

I fear my wife may come back from the dead
and think I’ve been unfaithful,
that she won’t even ask why I’ve gone to sell trinkets
on the streets of Karachi.