Ehsan Abdollahi’s poetry commemorates his UK visit
Ehsan Abdollahi has written a poem to commemorate his first ever visit to the UK! Edinburgh Book Festival is now over, and the illustrator of When I Coloured In the World and A Bottle of Happiness has returned to Iran, but he writes of all his happy memories of his events in both London and Edinburgh. This beautiful poem has been translated from Farsi by Azita Rassi.
My last event in Edinburgh is over.
I have to go back to London and then leave for Tehran.
At dawn,
I will arrive at Tehran.
I am a little tired,
But my suitcase is filled with memories…
My clothes smell of happiness…
And of course,
A little nostalgia…
For London’s cloudy sky and wearing cardigans in the summer.
I am brimming again
With crystalline affection.
Besides the sky, the clouds, and the rain,
I have made friends who are like green leaves,
My guardian angels…
I see the beauty lying in their eyes, as morning dew on Apple blossoms,
Just as pure and unblemished,
And I thank God for them.
Again I bring bottles of happiness,
Again I wish to colour in the world.
I want to present these
To the children made of sunlight, who with each hello
Shone on me…
They showed me their hands and colours,
And we drew our happiness and dreams together.
We laughed and made colours laugh…
And our childlike spirit charged the space.
It was so heartwarming for me.
Each second of ours became everlasting,
And my world was filled with gorgeous colours alien to me until then.
I yearn for those days again,
For the blinking ray of sunlight through the dense clouds over the foggy horizon.
I start to work with a heart full of hope
With my new colours I welcome new experiences.
Once again, the smell of paper,
Ink,
Brush…
And of course,
Tons and tons of love.
- Read more about the visa refusal and the #visaforAbdollahi campaign
- Listen to the podcast of Ehsan Abdollahi and Friends
- Read a report on Ehsan Abdollahi and Friends
- Watch Ehsan Abdollahi’s BBC interview at Edinburgh Festival
- See The Bookseller cover illustration by Ehsan Abdollahi
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