Haft Seen

Notes

Haft Seen: traditional display of seven symbolic items beginning with the letter ‘s', prepared for the New Year festival of Now Ruz.

Dam Platz: historical square in Amsterdam flanked by the Royal Palace and the National Memorial to the Dutch war dead.

Haft Seen: traditional display of seven symbolic items beginning with the letter ‘s', prepared for the New Year festival of Now Ruz.

Dam Platz: historical square in Amsterdam flanked by the Royal Palace and the National Memorial to the Dutch war dead.

Mimi Khalvati, Poet-translator

Notes on the literal translation:

[1] Literally: "grain by grain."

[2] Shakila clarified that the pronoun here refers to a dear friend that she is thinking about, while the ‘you' refers to the narrator herself.

[3] Refers to the traditional display of 7 symbolic items beginning with ‘s' that is prepared at the New Year/Spring festival of Noruz.

[4] The historical square in Amsterdam flanked by the Royal Palace and the National Memorial to the Dutch war dead.

Zuzanna Olszewska, Literal Translator