Faal is a name used for bibliomancy. In Iran, birds are used
for fortune-telling. They pick one from a selection of cards
with writings by the poet Hafez. The saying selected for you
will indicate your fate.
Inside the walls of sandy Qom
before the Lady’s shrine and dome
if you walk by, a man might call
and offer to divine your faal.
Half-blind, he sits with cage at feet;
inside the cage: a parakeet
who at his master’s rod and call
will pull a card that bears your faal.
The card contains a line of verse
portending happiness or curse.
He’ll ask for tomans; if you stall
you risk a blot upon your faal.
Hunched over, he will squint, as his
one eye scans couplets from Hafiz.
His madman’s mien will cast a pall
as he proceeds to tell your faal.
There might be those who doubt or scoff;
at them with scorn he’ll yell “sod off!”,
declaring, “pride precedes the fall”,
as if relating his own faal.
Wael Almahdi
If you have any thoughts about this poem, Wael Almahdi would like to hear them.
