A Wedding on the Devil’s Cart

When the first automobiles appeared,

our mullahs called them

“the Devil’s cart.”

Now, in the hottest time of summer,

I am on a minibus.

The minibus is packed tight,

the smell of hell inside.

We open the windows—

the dust puts us in a bad situation.

We close the windows—

the heat puts us in a bad situation.

Like Munkar and Nakir,

who have difficulty deciding

whether a dead person,

whose sins and good deeds are fifty-fifty,

should go to hell or heaven,

we also have difficulty deciding.

But the driver

is more merciful than God.

By an improvised method,

he has installed a fan.

…

A new passenger.

The driver shouts:

— “Be a little kinder!”

A passionate voice:

— “Don’t worry, brother,

we’re practically related already.”

…

Wedding music

is playing on the stereo.

How wonderful our people are,

how wonderful our people are—

we can have fun

even in Hell.

A mullah’s car passes by us.

Its air conditioning is excellent,

its conditions are excellent.

As if he has fallen into Heaven.

Religious songs

are playing on his stereo.

The name of the car:

The Heaven Cart.

Bahtiyar Hidayet, Azerbaijan