In The Mosque Poem by Nassy Fesharaki

In the mosque

No need to rush to judge
Think, think, think,
Think twice,
Before using your tongue.

Mosque and I have hardly
Been close, friendly…

Not because of building
But because of mullahs.

Yes, the time demanded
Use of a mosque as a base.

For a long I, an officer
Disliked ruling system
Of our Shah and his men,
They made him a dictator!

I never hid myself
Behind foolish actions,
Rarely lied, was open.

I read and met people
The poor and with riches,
Caravanserais and castles.

Most of the generals,
The closest to the shah
Lived in the palaces
Or villas with gardens.

They were like electrons,
The cloud orbits of atoms,
They rotated and stopped
In the Maison, here, there.

They censored and scissored
The facts and built curtains
Between Shah and the Nation.

And I was against the
Generals, ministers…

So, happened what happened
In thirteen, fifty-seven…

To me that incident
Does not have the same name:
'Revolution…'

It is right in the meaning,
The etymology of changes.

People were like drops
The drops made a flood,
A blizzard and the flood
Can take us to the skies.

Khomeini, a puppeteer
Surfaced like a dragon
At the head of the river.

His words could make fire,
They broke, washed away
All the hills and mountains.

Armed bases were looted,
People had guns, bullets,
And life was dangerous.

I heard some, jokingly
Talk about the injuries
And aiming and killing.

I had to do something,
Turned me into a sandbag.

I gathered some friends,
A truck with a loudspeaker.

Asked them to go to people
And be my messengers:
By giving my address…

I wanted each person
With a gun or bullets
To come to my place.

For too long an officer
I was the most experienced
To teach them how to repair
Or exchange guns and bullets.

We set a time, Two PM,
And exactly on the same day
Khomeini used the waves
To issue an order
Same as mine, similar:
'Take your arms deliver
To the closest Masjids…'

I was caught in the middle
Of the rivers and the fires,
So, I changed my address
To the closest Masjid.

We made a committee,
Not because we wanted
But because of the current.

As the head, commander
I was judge and justice
And all the government,
The highest to the lowest.

I was the police and banker
I was the shop, shopkeeper
Heard a lot and witnessed.

Our people were like a herd
Encircled by tigers
And there was no shepherd.

Life is tough whenever
Collapses government
Even is a shrewd dictator.