The Silence of the Stethoscope

The hall, a seminar of shadow and bone,
Where nine bright futures shattered into one.

The stethoscope, abandoned, could not save,
A silent promise laid upon the grave.

No cry escaped the City of Joy's ear,
As men wore masks that hid the rising fear.

While a father slept, secure in love's soft lie,
His child, a truth beneath a blood-red sky.

The world went deaf. The trust was torn and spilled.
And every woman asked:
Can the mask be killed?