Where Is the House of My Friend? (After Sohrab Sepehri)

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In the false-dawn twilight
a rider enquired of a passer-by:
Where is the house of my friend?
The sky paused
The passer-by held a branch of light
which brushed the dark sand

He pointed to an aspen:
before you reach that tree
turn off at the garden path
that leads into a space more green
than any god could dream
and go down that path
as far as the wings of honesty can reach

Continue beyond the end
of the first part of your life
and then turn again
take two steps
toward a flower that grows alone
at the foot of the fountain
of the story of the earth
stop and you will be swallowed up
by fear transparent as water

In the closeness of the space that flows
something rustles
in one of the surrounding pines
a child has climbed up
to pluck a young bird
from a nest made of light
and you call out to that child

Where is the house of my friend?

Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980): Where Is the House of My Friend? trans. TC
Stills from Where Is the House of My Friend?, dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1987
Sohrab Sepehri: Untitled drawings (via 12 Petals Media Group)