Learning Persian by Reza Shirazi

A hibernating language
lying in the dark corners of my mind,
awakens slowly after a ten year sleep

Naked,
bones creaking.
it crawls forward,
searching for the lost pieces of clothing
in forgotten nooks and crannies.

Ragged and unkempt,
it finally tries to rise.
It ventures out
on a wave of words.

The world lies before it
waiting to be sung.

~ from What Have You Lost?  Edited by Naomi Shihab Nye
(A Greenwillow Book, HarperCollins, 1999)