"Before the Heat, Remember Persia"

A Persian Man.

The air is still cool and pleasant this morning, a small mercy before the heat arrives. According to the forecast, temperatures are supposed to soar into the mid‑90s today — a sharp turn after a week of weather so marvelous it felt like a gift. It’s a reminder that good things, or anything for that matter, don’t last forever.

Except maybe Persia.

Iran — historically known as Persia — is one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, with roots stretching back more than 7,000 years. Empires have risen and fallen, borders have shifted, cultures have transformed, but Persia has endured in one form or another across millennia.

And here’s the part that struck me this morning: in certain periods of Persian history, homoerotic themes were openly present in poetry. From the early centuries of Persian verse all the way into the modern era, love poems — ghazals, those short, lyrical sonnet-like pieces — often centered on same‑sex desire. Not hidden. Not forbidden. Simply part of the artistic and emotional landscape of the time.

It’s a reminder of how cultures change, how norms shift, how the world reshapes itself again and again. What feels fixed today may be fluid tomorrow. What seems eternal may be temporary. And yet, in contrast, God — in the way I understand Him — does not change. The same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

So whatever shape the world takes today, don’t expect it to hold. Weather changes. Empires change. People change. Poetry changes. But Persia, somehow, keeps living on — and God remains constant.

Persian Men,

New York City.