A Wishful Girl

Silence, silence, silence
As if a cenobite
In the cell of cement
Is silent.

But not for long,
And the cradle of pain and parish
Will shake
The night of silence, silence, silence.

They will come
The cobelligerents
With the sound of boots in the heart of coffins

On the shoulder of cement and sounds
And the census begin
And the raid begins.

And soon
The night will disgorge
Its stench into the darkness
The men of fate
Soldiers of God.

Before the silence brakes
And the cell shakes
Before the men arrive
And start to rape
And rape and rape
In the dungeon of fate;

She has a wish to say:
I wish I had a pair of eyeglasses
She said.

I wish I had a pair of eyeglasses
She said.

Sitting in the dungeon of fear and fate
Before the night, arrive
She looked at her veins
And said:
I wish I had a pair of eyeglasses.

Author's Note:
Political prisoners in Iran, under interrogation, torture, torment and rape (for women and men alike), tend to end their lives using any tools they may have. One of these tools is a pair of eyeglasses if they can find. With that, one may cut her/ his vein and commit suicide. Among them, a courageous woman, Masomeh Shademani, a 65 years old political prisoner ended her life in the bathroom using her eyeglasses.

Cyrus Mahan is a prominent Iranian writer and poet living out of his country since 1986. He has published numerous articles, short stories and poems, all concerned with the Iranian struggle for freedom, democracy and equality. He was arrested two times when Shah (the monarch) was in power, and spent four years in jail during this present regime. Critics consider him the most socially conscious poet and writer of to day's Iran.

Find more by Cyrus Mahan in the Author Index.

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