واپسین کشتی تختی

The Last Wrestling of Takhti

By Majid Naficy

Takhti*

Is still wrestling

With death

In Room 23, 

Atlantic Hotel, Tehran.

Blood drips from under the door

Down onto the stairway

And spreads throughout the city

Over his silver and gold medals

Brought from Helsinki, Melbourne and Rome,

Over the forbidden grave of Mossadegh

Who was his guiding light,

And over us who for years

Have given to him our hearts.

No!

There is no end to this wrestling

And blood is still dripping

Over our hopes and despairs.

        March 10, 2020

*- Gholamreza Takhti was an Iranian Olympic gold medalist wrestler. He was found dead in a hotel room in Tehran on Friday, January 7, 1968.