نمی‌خواهمت ای نفت! – شعری از مجید نفیسی

I Do Not Want You, Petroleum

by

Majid Naficy

I don’t want

I don’t want you, Petroleum!

For a long time,

I thought that you burnt for me.

Now I see that I am burning for you.

I’m not saying that it’s not pleasant

Sitting near a kerosine heater

And watching the falling snow

Or listening to the sound of a water pump

In the confines of a farm.

And yet, I don’t want you,

Seven-headed dragon!

Fire still spews forth from your mouth

To the soul of my homeland.

In your school I learned servitude

So that the khan of the tribe

Could send his son to London .

The Imperial Army in the South 

Forced me to abandon

The dream of a House of Justice.

On the street my blood was shed.

It turned into ink

For the pens which wrote

The new contracts of oil.

The Grand Gates of Civilization

Opened with your key.

Today the Antichrist gallops 

On your golden donkey.

You lifted this state to a heavenly throne

You polished its boots to a sheen

You raised its seven-headed club

And whenever I jumped to pull it down

You supported its shaky body

With your sturdy beams.

No! I don’t want!

I don’t want you, Petroleum!

Oh, bloody stream!

For a long time,

I thought you gave me blood.

Now I see, you made me bleed.

May 18, 1987