Tea in the Desert, A poem for Iran

Hoshang Merchant is a Hyderabad based poet, professor and activist. He was born in Mumbai in 1947. Since the mid-80s, Hoshang Merchant has made his home in Hyderabad, where he taught English at University of Hyderabad. He is India's first openly gay poet who lived in Iran during the first days of the Islamic Revolution,1976 to 1979.

Tea in the Desert, A poem for Iran

Afsanneh,Maimouneh,Parvaneh,Nargis and Nasim
Packed a picnic basket
Tea things, date cakes, sandwiches
They wore scarves, veils, chador
And went for tea in the desert
They walked out before sun-up
And walked and walked to the desert's edge
Then they saw a sand atoll
So they climbed it
The air nimble, the sun low
They saw another and another
So they climbed all the atolls
One after another
Behind them they left father, priest and brother
But still there was another
The highest atoll to climb
From where they could see to Yazd, Kerman, Bam
They took off their veils
And let loose their hair
For they were flushed hot
Nasim's hair was best
In red fiery points, a halo
And when they sat down to tea
The sun was at its highest
They sweated blood
Felt faint
Curled up in each other's arms
Kissed
And slept and slept....
The wind whistled around them
And this is how they had their tea in the desert
Afsanneh,Maimouneh,Parvaneh,Nargis and Nasim....