Guests During One's Lifetime (1966)
by Mammad Araz (born 1933)

Someone is knocking at my door.
"Hey, who's knocking?"
"I'm Memory.
I've brought a letter from your first love."
(An angry woman appears in the kitchen.
The person knocking disappears with the letter.)

Again, a knock at the door.
"Hey, who's knocking?"
"I'm Praise!"
"Welcome!"
"Do you have anything to drink?"
"No, I don't!"
"Then go on writing!"
(Praise leaves).

Knock, knock.
"Who are you?"
"It's me - Need!
Open the door!"
"What news?
I haven't seen you for a long time."
"It seems the less you see of me, the more you miss me."
"Your neighbor gets a wage equivalent to five salaries
Another man buys a car."
"By God, let me write!"

Again knock, knock.
"Who's that?"
"Your friend, Latest News!"
This damned world hasn't collapsed:
Our century is the century of diplomacy, hey brother!
They speak about peace, carrying bombs in their pockets.
Two more of your poems were rejected
Because of your friends there."
*
"Give me some peace! Let me breathe!"

Again a knock at the door.
"Who do you want?"
"I'm Fame!"
"Welcome, who are you looking for?"
"Mammad Araz"
"Brother, you're late.
He doesn't live here any more."
"Where does he live now?"
"It's near this place -
There's a grave over which a woman is crying,
That's where you'll find him now."

* "They speak of peace, carrying bombs in their pockets" meaning that his friends are double-faced and superficial and, in reality, don't support him.

Translated by Aytan Aliyeva


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