Written by Ali Akhavan 
Translated by Alireza Taheri Araghi
Illustrated by Siamak Pourjabbar
Read by Evan Bryson 

Published 4/8/2012

The lion who
looked after me
for years and
looked after me in free time and
looked after me in the forest and
slept by my head at night
the lion I hair dried
his mane
in the evening
the lion who made me loveable by
and for . . .

My lion
died of
wounds that would never heal.

“Ah,” loudly he said and
ended with a narrow smile
like Indians,
“Goodbye my friend
Goodbye”
and then
died
and then I
tried to
throw some dirt
on my dead lion’s body
tried to
keep a fire alight
for a little while
tried to plant a few flowers
but
there was no fire
there was no flower
and no dirt
there was nothing there
because my lion
was dead.

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Ali Akhavan was born in 1977 in Tehran, Iran. His poems have been published in Iranian litrary magazines. He runs www.4040e.com and co-manages www.bipelaki.com with Shahram Shahidi (both sites in Farsi). (Updated Apr. 2012)

Born in 1976, Siamak Pourjabbar is Creative Manager at Eshareh Advertising Agency and a member of the Iranian Graphic Designers Society. He has participated in several international exhibitions including the Hong Kong International Poster Triennial (2010) and the Chicago International Poster Biennial (2010). He has won a number of national and international prizes including second prize at "4th Block," the 7th International Triennial of Eco-Posters, Kharkov, Ukraine (2009), and prize for Poster for Tomorrow, Freedom of Expression (2009). (Updated May 2012)

Evan Bryson is a writer from Indiana. He is currently editing the documentary A Kiln Film. (Updated Jun. 2012)