I am like a sparrow.
It is only my sorrow
That makes me look big.
Bahtiyar Hidayet, a poet from Azerbaijan, shares his short poem
Bahtiyar Hidayet, born in 1974 in the Gazakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, graduated from university in 1995 and has been working as a history teacher since 1998. Wrote poetry since high school and has 4 poetry books published in Azerbaijan.
Sparrow Love
So what if
Your face is like a flower garden?
My heart, meanwhile, is like a beehive —
Your longing has thousands of nests inside me.
And I am allergic to bee venom.
Its medicine is analgin, dimedrol.
Or can you not be
As much as analgin and dimedrol?
The flowers on your face have no nectar,
Like artificial flowers
Laid upon graves.
I already have diabetes.
I could feed this beehive with sugar too.
Artificial honey would come out.
Besides, everything in this country is artificial.
Let the harvest of my sorrow be artificial too.
Your love is artificial anyway.
But fake analgin and dimedrol do not exist —
Because they are too cheap.
Look, on the balcony, swallows
Build nests with their mouths.
But the mouths of people like you
Destroy homes, destroy nests.
By now I love bees more than people,
I love swallows,
I love cheap medicines.
Be as jealous as you want.
…There are grave flowers on your face.
So many wishes have died inside you,
Woman like a homeland.
You are like a homeland.
But I, miserable as I am,
Cannot even become a swallow.
I am like a sparrow.
On the crater-like roads
Of this ruined homeland,
I foolishly treat muddy puddles
Like jacuzzis.
I am like a sparrow.
It is only my sorrow
That makes me look big.
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