FORTY DAYS AGO WE DIED

By Setareh Sabety

Forty days ago we died

Along with that mother

Whose scream I still hear

Not only in my ear

But deeper

In the bloody cracks

Of my broken heart.

Forty days ago

We saw life

Chased out of

The young eyes

Of someone else’s daughter

Forty days ago

We all died

Bearing witness

To the naked cruelty

Equally random and arrogant

Of those we refuse to call

Men

Songs of heroism anger me,

Drown in the wail

Of mourning mothers

Churning in my stomach

Martyrs we do not need

We are dead already

We died forty days ago

Bearing witness

To the uncensored

‘Graphic content’

Of human cruelty!

What we need

Is a miracle:

A mother

Whose newborn’s

First cry

Rips through

The clean crisp

Air of freedom

Finally found.