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.