Blood Bride

The night of your bloody death
Is the night of your “wedding”*
Because your virginity is a war spoil
And it is feared if you die a virgin
You will go directly to the garden of Paradise.

In the court of Allah
A woman is not valued
More than half of a man
And yet, you are punished twice:
One time for your virginity
One time for your courage.

After burying you
In the Cemetery of the Infidels
The “bridegroom” Islamic guard
Goes to your house
And gives your mother a “wedding” cake
Because rape is a means of terror
And the gazelle-eyed virgins
Promised by the Quran in paradise
Seem hard to cash in
To the Islamic guard.

Majid Naficy
February 8, 1986

* In the 1980s, Islamic guards were ordered to "marry", that is, rape virgin political prisoners before their executions in Iran. The clergy believed that if the girls remained virgins they would go to paradise after death.  In this respect, readers may read a letter written by Hussein Ali Montazeri to Khomeini dated October 7, 1986 included in Montazeri's Political Memoir available in Persian on the Internet.

عروسِ خون

شبِ مرگِ خونینَت
شبِ "زفاف"ِ توست
زیرا بكارتَت، غنیمت جنگی ست
و بیم آن می رود
كه اگر دوشیزه بمیری
یك راست به باغِ بهشت شوی.

در دادگاه الله، ارزش یك زن
بیش از یك نیمه مرد نیست
با این همه، دو بار مجازات می شوی:
یكبار برای بكارتَت
یكبار برای جسارتَت.

پس از خاكسپاريَت
در گورستانِ كُفرآباد،
پاسدار "داماد"
به در خانه ات می رود
و شیرینیِ "عروسی" را
بدست مادرت می دهد،
زیرا تجاوز
یك وسیله ی اِرعاب است
و حوریانِ بهشتیِ قرآن
در چشمِ پاسدار اسلام
نسیه می نمایند.

مجید نفیسی
۸ فوریه ۱۹۸۶