Lyrics: Iraj Jannati Ataie.
Credits for the arrangement on which this DutchPersianTry-outVersion is loosely based: Eendo and Hossein Mansouri.
All credits for the lousy recording, bloopers, weird pronunciation and all that: yours truly.

Sharghi-e ghamgin Dutchpersianversion

All credits go to Samin Baghcheban for the song, and to Ali Azimi and the late Golnar Shahbazzadeh for their beautiful cover.

Of course, once more, all credits for lousy recording quality, bloopers, weird pronunciation and pitching (sorry! It's a try-out!) and more go to yours truly.

Noruz tu rahe Dutchpersianversion

simultaneous reading a poem written by eL(Elham Malekpoor Arashlu) in Persian and English by eL (Elham Malekpoor Arashlu) and Juliana Mensah in March 2013 in York, United Kingdom

Take care of yourself

¥
بعد فکر کردم که چاقویی دستم است
فکر کردم همان چاقویی که پشتم بود
چه خوب بود تیغ پدرم باشد
مویی نبود در میانهی ما
چشمم را که در آورد
فهمیدم با یک چشم می‌توانم نجیب‌تر زندگی کنم
حتا دو چشم هم چیز عجیبی نیست
با حرکت بعدی یک مسافر قبیله بود
.
یک تن می‌توانست جواب تمام سوال‌هایم باشد
آسمان البته آبی بود
ولی نشست دست‌های به چشم‌هایم آلوده‌اش را
جیب‌هایم را گشتم
برای خاراندنش پوست کرگدن پوشیدم
گفت
دوستی چیز غم‌ناکی ست
.
گفت نمی‌شود اصلن از آب
فقط گاز زدن ساندویچ روی نیمکت تخت‌خواب‌مان می‌کرد
قول دادم یک کلمه هم از آن چاقو نگویم
نمی‌گویم
وقتی نگاه کردم
فکر کردم پدرم مویی ندارد اصلن
پس می‌توانست تیغ خودتراش باشد
توی دستم لرزید
ولی من مصمم بودم
فکر کنم به اتفاق بعدی
.
من پسر بودم
شاید وقتی فکرش بیاید
حالا موها هرچند
هرجا زندگی ست میانه‌ی دست‌ها
زنی کامل در کنار پسرم لالایی می‌خواند خواب‌اش کند
می‌بیند همان که پشت سرش بود حالا توی دست‌هایش دارد بازی می‌گیرد
فکرش را که می‌کنم اسبش سفید بود
میان ابروهایش دو کوه بود
روی تنش که بود . . . .
. . . . زردی روز بود
قرمزی دور چشم‌هایم بود
چمن بود که دیگر روی نیمکت ننشینم
شکاف بود
بعد اتفاقی افتاد
من زن کامل بودم
من کف روی آبجو بودم
من کفش آدیداس بودم
.
زرده‌ی تخم مرغ شل بود
قوی بودم و خوب دوام آورده بودم


الهام ملک‌پور




Take Care of Yourself

¥
Then I thought I am holding a knife
I thought it’s the same knife stabbed on my back
It would be good if it was my father’s blade
There was not a hair separating us
When he pulled out my eye
I found I could live a meeker life with only one eye
Even two eye is not so odd
With the next move he was a tribal traveller
.
One single body could be the answer to all of my questions
 
The sky, of course, was blue
But she/he didn’t wash his hands so smeared in me
I checked his pockets
To scratch him I pulled on hippo skin
Said
Friendship is a sorrowful affair.
Said it’s not possible at all that out of water
 
Biting into the sandwich alone, over the bench, could transform us into a bed
I promised to not utter a word of that knife
 
I won’t
 
When I looked 	I thought my father has no hair at all
So it could be razor
It shook in my hand
But I was determined
To think of the next accident
 
.
the Girl that I am   I am somebody’s son 
Maybe when its memory returns
Now, even though the hair
Wherever there is life within hands
 
A wholesome woman sings lullabies on my son’s side to lull him to sleep
 
She’ll see that same thing playing behind her back now is within her hands, throwing a game
When I think of it, she was with a white horse
A mountain in the mid of her eyebrows
When over her body . . . . 
There was the yellowish of the daytime
There was the red rim around my eyes
There was grass so we don’t have to sit on the bench
There was the slot
Then an incident happened
I was a wholesome woman
I was the foam over the beer
I was Adidas sinkers
.
Egg yolk was soft
I was strong, I’d lasted long

Elham Malekpoor

Take Care of yourself - Poetry Reading by eL (Elham Malekpoor Arashlu) & Juliana Mensah

Na man behooda girde kocha
Wa bazaar megardam
Mazaj-e-ashiqee daram paye
dildar megardam

Khudaya rahm kon bar man
Pareeshan waar megardam

Khata karam gonahgaram
Ba hale zaar megardam

Sharabe showq menosham
Ba girde yaar megardam

Sukhan mastana megoyam
Walay hooshyaar megardam

         English Translation

No I am not roaming aimlessly
around the streets and bazaar
I am a lover searching for his beloved

God have mercy on me
I am walking around troubled

I have done wrong and sinned
and am walking around wounded

I have drunk the wine of desire
and am strolling around beloved

Though I may seem drunk
I am quite sober

Rumi's Poem "Na man behooda" By Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Queer hobo poet has been called Elham Malekpoor Arashlu since 29th July 1983 has published several collections of poetry, most of which have been banned or censored in Iran and has had several writings published or non-published including poetry, short story, article and research by her name and various aliases. The theoretical human rights activist who believes in saving the world with words.

Take Care of yourself - Poetry Reading by eL (Elham Malekpoor Arashlu) & Juliana Mensah

eL (Elham Malekpoor Arashlu)

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