هشت کتاب/شرق اندوه/پا راه

"Footpath" is a poem by Sohrab Sepehri from The East of Sorrow (Sharq-e Andouh, 1961), one of the eight collections gathered in Eight Books (Hasht Ketab). It is spoken to a "you" who is asked to tend a series of inner states: to give water to the vine of longing, to read a story to the frightened child and put it to sleep, to pluck the tulip of awareness from its stem. The short lines and inward address are typical of this collection, the most mystical of Sepehri's early books. The full text is on Persian Wikisource, in the public domain in Iran.