RAHA Poetry: Najid Naficy

I Do Not Want You, Petroleum

by Majid Naficy

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 enjoying the falling snow.

Or the working water pumps

In the empty plain.

And yet, I cannot believe 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[1],

The Imperial Army in Mohammara[2]

Forced me to abandon

The dream of a “House of Justice”.[3]

On the street my blood was shed,

It turned into ink

For the pens which wrote

The new contracts of slavery.[4]

The grand gates of falsehood[5]

Opened with your keys.

Today the promised Messiah rides

On you, donkey of the Antichrist.

You raised this state to the heavenly throne

And polished its boots to a sheen.

You raised its seven-headed club

And whenever I tried to pull it down

You reinforced 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

[1]At the turn of the century, the British made an agreement with the khans of the Bakhtiyari tribe who ruled the area where petroleum was first discovered in Iran.

[2]Today called “Khorramshahr”, a city near the Persian Gulf.

[3]The initial slogan of the movement which led to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911 in Iran.

[4]After the nationalization of the oil fields, Dr. Mosaddeq, the prime minister who had led this movement, was ousted by the CIA, and in 1953 the Shah returned to power and made new contracts with Western companies.

[5]The Shah's slogan in the late 1970's was “Iran is marching towards the grand gates of civilization”.