A trend in memorial readings, and readings in general, is to move away from stronger, perhaps more radical voices, in favour of more general, gentle texts, even where that doesn't reflect the person or the audience present. I sometimes feel we miss an opportunity to bring a more unique, a more particular spirit to an event in our attempts to avoid risky options. It takes bravery- and a delivery of sufficient conviction- to choose something like this poem but if it means poets such as Forough Farrokhzad can feature more in our modern ceremonies then it is likely worth it. This one, after all, has the immense power to wake us up; again, its not a poem specific to death- far more about liberation- but I personally believe that texts that invite the imagination can be used with it, and that new contexts bring with them new life.
I Will Greet the Sun Again
I will greet the sun again
I will greet
the stream that flowed in me
the clouds that were my long thoughts
the painful growth of the aspens in the garden
who passed with me through the dry seasons
I will greet the flock of crows
who brought me the scent of the fields at night
as a gift
I will greet my mother who lived in the mirror
and was the reflection of my old age
and greet the earth again
whose throbbing interior, with my chronic lust
I have stuffed with green seeds
I will come, I will come, I will come
with my glossy hair: rich with the scents of turned-up soil
with my eyes: experiences of thick darkness
with bushes I have picked from the grove on the other side of the wall
I will come, I will come, I will come
and the threshold will be filled with love
and on the threshold
I will greet those who love again
and the girl still standing there
on the love-filled threshold