Majid Naficy: Empty Bed

At midnight
I wake up
To the sound of a voice:
“Change the battery!
Change the battery!”

Is my son coughing
From his asthma
Or asking for water
At his mom’s house?

I turn off the voice
And return
To my empty bed.

Copyright 2017  Majid Naficy

Majid Naficy fled Iran in 1983, a year and a half after the execution of his wife. Since 1984 Majid has been living in West Los Angeles. He has published two collections of poetry in English Muddy Shoes (Beyond Baroque, Books, 1999) and Father and Son (Red Hen Press, 2003) and more than twenty books of poetry and essays in Persian.

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Majid Naficy