Head Trauma

A violent blow to my head.

I am in the hospital.
Cold water in my both ears.
My eyes do not move.
A thin tube down to my throat.
I do not cough.
A pinch on my nose.
A strike to my forehead.
A beam of light into my eyes.
Nothing.
They disconnect me from the ventilator.
I do not breathe.
Brain death.

A violent blow to my head.

“Where?”
In the subway.
“Who are you?”
A student.
“Why?”
For "the law of their faith."
They tell my mother: Stay silent!
They tell my father: Stay silent!

I tell you: 
If silence
Leads to an explosion—
Then be silent.

Armita Geravand (April 6, 2006 – October 28, 2023) was an Iranian schoolgirl who lost consciousness on October 1, 2023, after suffering a head injury in the Tehran metro inflicted by morality police because of her outfit. She was hospitalized due to a brain hemorrhage and skull bleeding, fell into a coma, and passed away after 28 days. She was an 11th-grade art school student in Tehran.