Cypress Weeps
A boy’s grief
transformed him
into a cypress tree.
Since then,
the cypress weeps.
For landscapes
holding too many graves,
for hills that have forgotten
how to be still,
as though the earth
refuses to be finished.
Bones do not rest,
turned, returned
by hands not their own.
In ruin,
life keeps its rituals:
a backgammon board opened
on a broken ledge,
dice striking wood
where walls once held laughter.
Where voices leaned close,
half-whisper, half-dare,
speaking of love affairs
threaded through pauses,
as if desire itself
might outlive rubble.
Still,
the cypress weep.
The House That Raised Us
Stone hearts with
all their chambers,
wrought iron,
painted azure.
Shell-stippled walls,
windows flirt with sea-views,
sand dunes, old cities
hold in their glass.
Ocean breath,
frangipani, orange blossom,
sun-shadow slipping and returning
across tiled balconies.
Stairways rise
to arched doorways,
lion-maned guardians,
unblinking,
keeping vigil
over heavy timber doors.
Doorknobs shaped
like open hands
not ornament, but promise:
enter, you are known.
Outdoor fountains,
stone benches
so that wayfarers,
might rest their names
awhile.
Inner courtyards,
terrazzo glistens underfoot,
light pouring from above,
rooftop gardens
drink the same sky we did.
We were raised by these thresholds
taught how to arrive, how to welcome, how to stay.
Now:
rubble.
And we,
displaced into distance,
carry keys with no doors,
learning the weight of thresholds
that open only inward.
We stand
at the foot of what remains:
a hinge,
a handle,
the echo of a room
and the stubborn shape of return.
Shirin Abedinirad, Reflective Portal, 2024. Public art, Nanhai District, Foshan, China. Presented at Art Field Nanhai 2024, the work draws on the mirrored architecture of Persepolis and Rumi’s vision of inner illumination — “Go, become the Light” — using polished stainless steel to create an endless passage of reflection, where light, landscape, and self unfold in a continuous meditation on beauty, possibility, and becoming. Photography by Tian Fangfang. Artwork courtesy of featured artist Shirin Abedinirad.
