My town has become a home of grief,
and its square—one of doomsday.
Carpenters have forsaken this home’s doors
and windows, and now they make
a coffin for a widow, who lost her
husband, her life’s shadow. Suicide
bombers have turned to mud her world of love
and longing. Muddy. The sky is full of
yelling, shouting, and the fountain—polluted,
full of dragons devouring sea’s nymphs
till every stomach is full of innocent fish.
And spreading like cancer—an incurable pain,
though never a sense of sin. Mothers’ cries
echo in the mountains, for Monster Suicide
has no mercy, grabbing children in its claws.
The firmament’s God is shouting, weeping,
Grieving from so much cruelty:
Arrogant Suicidal Monsters! The dinosaurs of our century!
For there is no pity, and this town,
this town sulks from bloodshed; people fade,
hearts broken, shaken.
The mornings begin with massacre, the
night ends with mourning. Children’s ululations
rise to the sky, and conscience has died
in monsters deaf to hear it, blind to see it
My Allah, my God, my HaShem
in all names I call you.
The only purpose is You
the One, Mighty and Powerful…
Please, end this dark night;
have mercy on my country,
and light this cloudy sky—
Panic is everywhere, and the shadow
Shadow of death threatens everyone
in this—my town of tears.
By Sitara
Photo by Laura’s Eye
My goodness, Sitara, this poem pierces the heart!
Stunning work. I want to only praise your writing, focus on the power of your words, but I do so through tears, because you are writing about such pain and horror, and I don’t want you to experience this, I don’t want your townspeople to know this cruelty. I pray for peace and security–for you, and for all of your country. Stacy
Thank you my Dearest Stacy, whenever I read your comments on my pieces they empower me more and more to write and write. Not only me but the entire AWWP writers so happy to have you and all your support.
Thanks for your ambitions and wishes for me and my country.
Sitara — This is an amazing and stunning poem that illuminates so clearly the horrors that you and your town are experiencing that is like so many others experience throughout Afghanistan. My heart aches for all of you. Please keep painting these terrifying pictures with your words for us as long as this continues. We need to be reminded every day. May peace come to your town and Afghanistan one day soon. Love and all best wishes, Nancy
Thanks my dearest Nancy, your encouragement make me more powerful to picture the terrifying war in my pieces.
Warm wishes,
Sitara
Sitara,
This is a beautiful poem about a terrible subject, as so many beautiful poems sadly often are. Your use of language and alliteration in the poem is something I particularly enjoy (“full of dragons devouring sea’s nymphs / till every stomach is full of innocent fish”). It is clear also that you are in control of your voice as a writer, by which I mean that your voice has a personal authority that a listener can tell is genuine. Thank you for posting it. I hope that your future is a safe and happy one.
Be well,
Patrick.