To Jalal Al-Ahmad
You got sick of the West
And returned from the U.S.S.R.
To co-ops of Zahra villages in Iran
And kibbutzes in the State of Isreal.
The machine depressed your soul
And the party shattered your dream.
So in search of the East
You became the curse of a land
Cultivated by a peasant co-op
But owned by a holy shrine.
At youth, you moved out of your father’s home
And the patter of your little gutter
Got lost in political storms.
But when your beehives were plagued by ants
And your paper-eating goats
Were scattered by oil tankers from the Kharg Island
You withdrew and like a nobody
Returned to your father’s sanctuary.
You were hurried like your beautiful prose.
Alas! Three generations
Gulped it like a bottle of araq
Over which they stil have hangovers.
You wanted to be a third force
Against two superpowers.
Alas! Your savior Mullah
Turned out to be an antichrist.
You longed for a child.
This is his epitaph on your gravestone.
If you were alive today
We would have moved out of this house together.*
Majid Naficy
February 16, 1986
* Jalal Al-Ahmad (1923-69) was the most prominent Iranian nonconformist intellectual in the 1960s. He died ten years before the Revolution but the Islamists falsely claim him for themselves. In this poem, I have alluded to the titles of ten of his books including his essay “Westernization” and his translation of Andre Gide’s book “Return from the U.S.S.R.”. I met him once at age fifteen in Tehran.
به جلال آل‌احمد
از غرب زده شدی
و بازگشتی از شوروی
به بُنه‌های بلوکِ زهرا
و کیبوتص‌های ولایتِ اسرائیل.
ماشین, جانت را افسرد
و حزب, رویایت را آشفت.
پس در جستجوی شرق
نفرینِ زمینی شدی
که بنه‌ی دهقان بود
و وقفِ مرقدِ آقا.
در جوانی از خانه‌ی پدری بیرون زدی
و شرشرِ ناودانِ کوچکت
در توفانهای سیاسی گم شد.
اما کندوهای عسلت مورچه زد
و بزهای کاغذخورت را
نفتکشها از جزیره‌خارگ تاراند
تو پاپس کشیدی و چون خسی
به شبستانِ پدر بازگشتی.
چون نثرِ زیبایت شتابزده بودی.
افسوس, سه نسل
آن را چون شیشه‌ی عرقی سرکشید
که هنوز از سردردش در شکایت است.
می‌خواستی نیروی سوم باشی
در برابر دو ابرقدرت
افسوس, ملا‌ناجی‌ات
خود دجالی از آب درآمد.
در آرزوی فرزند بودی.
این است سنگنوشته‌اش بر گورت.
اگر امروز زنده بودی
با هم ازین خانه بیرون زده‌بودیم.*
مجید نفیسی
شانزدهم فوریه هزار‌و‌نهصد‌و‌هشتاد‌و‌شش
* جلال آل‌احمد برجسته‌ترین روشنفکر مستقل ایران در دهه‌ی چهل بود. او ده سال پیش از انقلاب درگذشت اما اسلامگرایان او را به دروغ به خود نسبت میدهند. در این شعر به عناوین ده تا از کتابهای او اشاره شده, از جمله رساله‌ی "غربزدگی" و ترجمه‌اش از کتاب "بازگشت از شوروی" نوشته‌ی آندره ژید. من او را یکبار در پانزده‌سالگی در تهران دیدار کردم.
From Saeed: "Majid jan, Absolutely stunning, masterfully using his 'aassar' to give your view of him and his politics. I read it for Haideh and she also enjoyed it and praised you so much. Khasteh nabashi, Saeed"
from Lillian Boraks-Nemetz:
Dear Majid,
I have been reading your poetry with great interest and enthusiasm . This last one has a very special expression of “emotional silence “ between the lines.
Thank you for sending your poems.
Warmest wishes
For this holiday season
A hug
Lillian