by Susanna Lang
At nightfall the roofs
in Tehran
cry out to God
and candles whisper
in the windows—
Where
have they hidden
the bodies of our children?
Their portraits
hang on apartment
walls, draped
in green scarves.
By day
the roofs are silent
but they watch
from behind their veils.
Tonight
they will call out
what they have seen.
Susanna Lang's poem, “After One Hundred Years,” previously appeared in The New Verse News. Her collection of poems, Even Now, was published in 2008 by The Backwaters Press. More recently, her poem “Condemned” won the Inkwell competition, judged by Major Jackson. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in journals including New Letters, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, The Baltimore Review, Kalliope, Green Mountains Review, Jubilat, and Rhino. Translations include Words in Stone and The Origin of Language, both by Yves Bonnefoy. A poem published in The Spoon River Poetry Review won a 1999 Illinois Arts Council award. She lives in Chicago, where she teaches in a Chicago Public School.
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