Three Poems on the February Revolution

By Majid Naficy


One: 

Mullah or Human?


A black-turbaned mullah in my childhood
At the dining table of my sister’s wedding
Snatched the platter of chicken in the air 
Put it in front of him and said:
“We descendents  of the Prophet go for the chicken.”

Was he not the same person who at my youth
Stole our revolution
And silenced polyphony
To establish his bloody theocracy?

The hands rebel against  clocks
From so much anachronism.
It is not long
That the monopoly of mullahs will fall,
Humanity will return to our dining table
And everyone will receive an equal share
From the platter of plenty.

Do not lose hope, my friend!
There is a saying from ancient times:
“How easy to become a mullah!
How hard to become a human!”

        July 1st, 2014  


Two:

Allahu Akbar Is the Slogan of Suppression


Allahu akbar is the slogan of ignorance.
Allahu akbar is the slogan of deception.
Allahu akbar is the slogan of suppression.

Thus said the people,
Who against a militia’s loudspeaker
Cannoning them with “allahu akbar”,
Shouted: “Rascal! Rascal!”
Thus said the people,
Who against the mullah leader
Calling them “stooges”,
Shouted: “Dictator! Dictator!”

Once, allahu akbar was the slogan of streets.
Once, allahu akbar was the slogan of rooftops.
Once, allahu akbar was the slogan of false hopes.

Slogans change.
Leaders change.
What remain are the people
Who take to the streets
In search of bread and freedom.

Thus said a poet
Crying for his homeland.*

        January 3, 2018

* Referring to a video from recent demonstrations in Iran


Three:

Corpse of the Revolution


I do not wait for poetry
But go in search of it
Because my wings are broken
And I am left far from my nest
Where my sister
For the last few days
Has remained home with her granddaughter
Because air pollution
Doesn’t let her go to school;
Where my brother-in-law
For the last few days
Has remained in ICU
Because the sanction
Doesn’t let him find his heart medicine;
Where in the demonstrations
For the last few days
Thousands of people have been arrested
And hundreds have been shot;
Where the corpse of the Revolution
For the last forty years
Has remained on the shoulders of our people
And the earth does not accept it.

November 27, 2019

https://iroon.com/irtn/blog/16680/