Trapped or Glowing

(After execution of Navid Afkari
another human rights activist in Iran)
                    

I saw dew drops on a spiderweb
glowing, in this beautiful morning.
Are they trapped,
or it’s a place for them to glow?
First thing as you woke up
in the spiderweb of social media,
was that another young brave man
is executed, is killed
because of rising his voice.
He did nothing but cry out
our rights, our basic rights.
Now, he is killed in favour of
real criminals,
while we were silent, smothered.
I look at the dew drops
which will never last
after sunshine comes up,
but are telling me,
glow as yourself,
even in your last moment.



176 Valentine’s Day

(To 167 passengers and 9 crews killed in flight 752 Tehran on 8th of January 2020)

Lying is easy, acquittal is absurd
they cannot steal what we dreamed
Liars blocked our texts, but
cannot torture light if it’s beamed.
So, you never find such messages
In any black box suspects
“Kiss you, I should turn off my phone”
“We have fastened our seatbelts”.
“So, intimate have we become
With their dear retrospect” *
You have received all messages
that no devices may direct.
Received to who it was sent to
right to the target, deep into heart:
in every light of Sun or Moon
I will retrieve, I will restart.
In every beam of light, dispersed
with restless dance I will fall
flowing down, looking for you
into your room, I will stroll.
In every beam of light, I’ll come
rejoiced my restless dancing
right to your cheeks, composed with love
for one another warm kissing.

*Emily Dickinson, Final Harvest, by Thomas H. Johnson, Back Bay Books, P 318.

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Mansour Noorbakhsh writes poems and stories in both English and Farsi, his first language, and has published books, poems and articles in both languages. His book length poem; “In Search of Shared Wishes” is published in 2017. He tries to be a voice for freedom, human rights and environment in his writings.

He is an Electrical Engineer, P.Eng. and lives with his wife, his daughter and his son in Toronto, Canada.