Zahrad: "Cleaning Lentils"

A lentil, a lentil, a lentil, a stone.

A green one, a black one, a green one, a stone.

A lentil, a lentil, a lentil, a word.

Suddenly a word, a lentil, a lentil, a word

next to another word. A word, a word, a word,

a speech. A word of nonsense.

Suddenly a song. A song, a song, suddenly

an old dream. A green, a green one, a black one

a stone.  A lentil, a lentil, a lentil, a stone.

"Cleaning Lentils" by Zahrad, translated from Armenian by Diana Der-Hovanessian. Published in the Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, edited by Ilya Kaminsky and Susan Harris. © Ecco, 2010.

Photography credit: Yotam Ottolenghi (originally color).