A gun, a pen
Dirty mind, clean heart
No future, good future:
You are one, we are millions.
You talk for yourself;
I talk for millions of girls
—living here.
You fear life;
(you keep a gun).
Your gun is weakness; my pen is strength.
Your gun hurts people; my pen makes them smile.
I am proud of life—
(I keep a pen and books):
You destroy, I build,
but I am not afraid,
I am not afraid.
Life is beautiful,
(things are good)—
I am alive.
I have a pen, I write, I talk.
I see my long life-journey,
but you see only death, death of your self.
Remember,
you can kill me, kill her, kill him,
but you can never kill us all,
for you are one—we are millions.
You live in yesterday, I live
in tomorrow, and the day
after tomorrow
and the day
after that.
By Maryam M.
Photo by Nicola Sapiens Dimitri
Dear Maryam M.
I have read this poem over and over today, and I love it more each time I read it. What a powerful piece of writing. This poem makes me proud to be a writer and a woman. Thank you so much for your inspirational words.
Keep writing!
Emily Ce
Great job, keep it up…appreciate your talent.
Superb, your poem inspired me a lot. I have a pen I write I talk…
Just a very stunning, powerful, saying-it-all-in-only-a-few-words poem. Brava. There are many people I wish to read this to–many of them in my home country of America. Thank you for writing this. Stacy
Great poem! Very powerful. Sometimes I feel that my writing is not enough to make a difference, but your poem reminded me that its all our writings, together, that will make a difference. Thank you.
Wonderful, thank you! We have too many guns here, too. I like especially your point that there are millions of us compared to the ones who kill. Even if they get some of us, they won’t get us all.