Faces of Khodayar

Poem for Khodayar

Dear Khodayar
let me call you by your name again.
Again I remember the day of your death
and how it was orchestrated.

The rain falls into the enormous ocean
and the tears and suffering that were thrust onto you
are evident.
My knee pains and I feel a flush rising on my face.
"Cruel treatments" and "false slogans of humanity"
blotted out your life -
three years ago today.
To answer those lies and that violence
I take up this pen;
to defy a government, to deny this heartless nation.
Whose conscience hides from the face of the sky.

And all around this place are ringed vicious reefs -
nauseated like teeth.
Hungry for hapless bodies like yours.

Khodayar, I wish the wind could touch your face
I wish the sun could wake you from this sleep.
I know no more than the birds of the air,
than the ants that burrow the earth.
I witness what you discovered
and told to us
with your last words.
I too find I must stand with love
until my body is undone -
vast anger and tenderness
will never leave us alone.

18.10.18