My eyes can also see

The green hills

Such a scene lights up

My homesick heart.

She narrates in her own words, “I began working on Persian Eyes after years of rehabilitation, following a serious accident, where I also took up Persian. Following eye surgery, it occurred to me that photography was probably THE best medium for expressing what it is, about Iran that continues to inspire me.

My wish was not only to capture the sheer depth and beauty of Persian eyes but also and more importantly, to peer into and unveil the Iranian soul. I felt it important to let the people of Iran show something of themselves, at times so different to what is portrayed in the Media.

During long stays in Iran spanning 2012 – 2017, I took pictures of eyes that belong to the so called “Burnt Generation” – people born between 1966 and 1990 who experienced the effects of the 1979 Revolution, followed by the Iran/Iraq War.

My photographs combine with poems which lend each image a powerful eloquence.  The poetry is broad in scope drawing from poets ancient and contemporary – some well-known, others unknown in the West, male and female – all representative of the eternal and enduring nature of the Iranian poetic spirit.”

Homesick

In Pinglin, on a hillside

My friend

Owns a piece of land

Over there

Tea plants grow freely

And bloom as they please

Spring has come

Let us enjoy

The scent of wild tea

Whose taste is clear and fresh!

My friend

Likes to sit up on the top

Of his tea field

Thinking that the grandfather

Of his grandfather

May have seated

In the

Same place

He looks down where the tea plants grow

Straight ahead

In a thick fog

His eyes make out the green hills

Humming softly

The world is really beautiful

And the heart is serene

Back in our far south

I taste the Pouchong of the little snail

One of my friend’s teas

Straight ahead, in that thick fog

My eyes can also see

The green hills

Such a scene lights up

My homesick heart.

***

그리운 집

내 친구는

핑린(坪林)에

작은 산비탈을 가지고 있어요.

그곳에선

차나무가 자유롭게 자라

꽃을 피워요.

봄이 오면

야생 찻잎의

맑은 향기를

마음껏 즐길 수 있어요.

그 차의 맛은 정말 맑고 상쾌해요.

내 친구는

차밭 꼭대기에

앉아 있는 걸 좋아해요.

그는 자기 할아버지의

할아버지가

아마도 이 자리에

앉았을 거라고

상상해요.

눈앞에는

차나무로 가득 찬 산과

안개가 덮인 푸르른 산비탈이

펼쳐져 있고

가만히 말해요.

세상은 참 아름답다고,

마음은 소박하고 고요해요.

멀리 남쪽으로 돌아가면

내 친구의

차를 마셔요.

눈앞에 보이는

안개 속 푸르른 산비탈의

이 풍경은

그리운 집을 생각하는

마음에 빛을 비춰요.

________________ 

Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"