Awake
I am beholding clouds
beholding dreams
and
… beholding the hands of a woman
… she has taken a fragment of me with her
Exactly like the force of a fork
carving out a piece of cake

I muse on those hands
that seem to have bathed within jungles
submerged into oceans
touched herrings

Hands covered with the dirt and sand of deserted plains
Hands soaked with dreams
Your hands
Your arms

If I were you, beholding me
I would fly
I would fly from one cloud to another cloud
from one tree to another tree
from one lake to another lake
from one mountain range to another mountain range
and from one city to another city

Fly over the valleys
fly over the expanse of the oceans
fly over the immensity of the deserts
If I were you, beholding me
I would fly from one river to another river

If I were you, beholding me
I would even send my kisses into flight
… from the lips of a woman
… sweet savour
… to the lips of a man
… sense him like salt

And this is who I am
living in wonderful solitude
and imagining the kiss from those lips
… lips that are overflowing with emotion
… overflowing without cause or reason

If I were you, beholding me
I would fly from one island to another island

Behrouz Boochani
Translation by Omid Tofighian, American University in Cairo/University of Sydney.