A Shelter (سقف)

Saghf (Persian: سقف)(Literary: Roof) is one of the most beautiful Iranian songs. It was first performed by Farhad Mehrad in the 1970s. The lyrics are composed by  Iraj Jannati Ataei , one of the dominant literary figures of contemporary Persian literature.

Here I have translated the lyrics to English:

I'm thinking of a shelter

I'm thinking of a shelter, 

                        a shelter with no holes on its roof,

                        a sturdy one, harder than iron.

                        A shelter to cover our fears,

                                        and to make us warm at cold nights.

                        A shelter as big as our hearts,

                                         to touch the beating of anxiety,

                                         to feel the delicate shame of moments,

                                         and to be filled with the smell of Petunia.

Under this shelter I speak to you of flowers, the night, and stars.

                               Of you and pleading you, I speak over and over.

I compare my life to yours under this shelter; I get lost in the deepness of your meaning to get new meanings.

But alas!

This shelter is nothing but a cloudy sky and the shortest distance between us is as long as the horizon.

I'm thinking of a shelter, a dream shelter,

                        a shelter for us, even if it is made of cardboard.

I'm thinking of a shelter, one with no holes on its roof,

                        a shelter for love, for you and I.

Under this shelter, if we ever have it, 

                                your heart will make us warm,

                                your hand will cover its holes.

Under this shelter, it's good for us to perfume the scent of self-forgetting,
                                                          to sleep with a story, to wake up with a song.
I'm thinking of a shelter...

Iraj Janati Ataei

Farhad Mehrad