I CAN ONLY WATCH AS THEY FALL BY MARAL MASROOR
I can only watch as they fall Running , stumbling , and tripping over bodies Ancestors still bleed for freedom Pooling , dripping , and staining their skin I can only watch as they fall Small girls and boys are touched by someone they were told to trust . A CASTLE MADE OF SAND , WE BUILT AND SCULPTED
Mothers , fathers
, MELTED
, sons , and daughters
AWAY cry
SO and
EASILY weep at the
BY THE PUSH AND loss PULL of each OF other THE . DEEP BLUE The acid burns down her sweet face
from the upset hands of his rejection and her jealousy . Melting , screaming , then silence I can only watch as they fall A too-young , almost 18 , new wife escapes only to be brought back and killed in “ honor ”. Her head , a prize in her husband ’ s , brother ’ s , father ’ s eyes . Echoing guileless screams of terror fill Tehran ’ s elementary schools , As the gas of tears fill their little lungs .
Weeping , burning , and scrambling to flee their classrooms I can only watch as they fall The prayers of justice for the girl touched by the Chief Were left unfinished by a helicopter shooting from above , At least 90 left to bleed , left to cry , left to die . From the wails of mothers to the anger of daughters Chantings of death , cries of mothers ' desperation , and the
shrieks of children . A CASTLE MADE can only OF watch SAND as they , WE fall BUILT AND SCULPTED , MELTED From my AWAY screen SO EASILY BY THE PUSH AND PULL OF THE DEEP BLUE I watch them drop . For I live too far to do anything at all I imagine too much And I understand too little Of why their " morals " Help them stand tall . So I sit here In my little room Thinking of what I would do if I could But I can ' t . I can only watch as they fall .
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