'Commit flight to memory'

Iranian cinema has been on my mind for a while (yes, I promised a post about Mama's Guests; I remember), and this morning, I was revisiting Kiarostami's Five Dedicated to Ozu after having recently watched The Wind Will Carry Us. The title for the latter film comes from a poem by Forugh Farrokhzad a well-known poet and filmmaker. In the film, Behzad is constantly looking for fresh milk and unable to find anyone who can give him some. Finally, he finds one old lady who sends him down into a cellar. There, in the dark, is a young girl who milks a cow by the light of a petromax lamp. While he is waiting, he asks her a number of questions which she meets with silence. So to while away the time, Behzad recites this poem which, given the circumstances, is surprisingly erotic.

I first came across a poem by her a few years ago, and though it was the only poem I knew, it made a great impression on me. This year, I gave that poem to my mother as a gift on her birthday - somehow a suitably dark and sombre poem despite the occasion it was meant to celebrate.

So having stumbled on the site dedicated to her work, I found this poem in the Introduction; the last two lines seem made to be read with the image from The Wind Will Carry Us:

Commit flight to memory,

For the bird is mortal.