By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2022

Dedicated to the late 22-year old Iranian, Mahsa Amini,
who, according to her grieving family, died in the hands of Iran’s “morality” police,
beaten to death for not properly covering her hair with a head scarf

First published in Academy of the Heart and Mind (November 3, 2022)

“We are Mahsa!  We are Mahsa!” chants the crowd.
“Liberty, freedom! Liberty, freedom!” cries abound.
Her life taken, for a hijab with hair unbound,
as her listless, body beaten, falls to ground…

Risking all to protest, thronging to the streets for liberty,
battling regime forces, brutal in disarming unity  —
firing live-round bullets, claiming to defend morality,
shrouded in pure darkness, cloaking cruel aims in security.

Its cities aflame in fires of righteous protest
their light recalled in candled vigils around the world,
Iran groans under the weight of one lost woman  —
whose thirst for freedom flags our hearts, unfurled.