Baktash Abtin (بکتاش آبتین)

Your warm piss on the ground         wasn’t fear!

Bullet, the end of sentence.

Silence slips down     the steep hills of the embankment

You are not here

And the sun passes through             your quiet eyelids.

Life a box of my memories

Inside it, I’m tossed around and logic?

I don’t know, perhaps          the sweat on my forehead from trying.

(There is no logic beyond the embankment, sir)

First comes the ash, then the fire

wisdom          the fire under the ash

I don’t know how I come up with these things

But the dream           sweet wisdom of nothingness

(A stranger A stranger)

Sir, move aside          Let me finish these bastards

Brother, these are captives               You can’t kill a man in chain

Sir, this is war            Only graves for these dirty dogs!

Bullet, the end of sentence…

The footprint of an Iraqi soldier is in the snow            No

The foot         of the Iraqi soldier is left behind

I used to fill the ants’ nest with water.

By the way     the sick soldier, before death

Which one of the tanks was it that coughed

to clear your throat?

I went to the frontline          (I went to the frontline)

I saw the enemy       (I saw the enemy)

I was startled             (I was startled)

I pulled a dagger    (I pulled a dagger)

I said, “Coward!”       (I said, “Coward!”)

This is Iran                  (This is Iran)

Land of the brave     (Land of the brave)

Who is tired?

Ene     me!

Who is tired?

I was tired     and dusty shadows

covered the barbwires

Where did the road to Jerusalem pass through?

Nowhere near my house!

I didn’t hear much    but screams of          stray tanks!

War was a certain wetness on the road

Water.             No.     It was a mirage.

I stood my ground and left exhaustion behind            

For Freedom,

I had to shoot a plane down

(Oh, you brave man. You lucky man

You great man           if you end up in the heavens

                                       Please pray for us)

I wasn’t brave             I wasn’t great!

I was a hand in the Sahand frigate crew

Behind the scenes    I was crying

over my fiancé’s picture.

Forecast:        Steam will rise with a delay

I had ruined death

And grave      the ditch under my feet

Where do I find the answer to all these questions?

I was defending myself

And the last target                 was me.

In other words, I’m carrying my corpse over my shoulders

And I can say with certainty

That the moon was shining brightly in my thoughts

Listen soldier             you must be a missile

An anti-tank missile               a killing machine

You must spell war backward

But sir             if I,      then?!

Listen soldier

A mission means      lying in your grave before the battle even starts

                                       Saying your prayers 

                                       Running without even noticing you are

                                       Feeling a warm pleasure without realizing you

Martyrdom means   a sun that burns the sky!

The Sahand frigate’s crew

You shut        the airplane               down

The sunset    your bruises!

I’m talking to you, the Sahand frigate’s crew

You are now picture frames

street names

And my beard             has turned gray            waiting for your footsteps!

You have become a drop of sweat

On the temples of the sky

before                        the moon

stains it.