Oh mother city
City of love and mercy
How long must you carry this sorrow
This pain in your chest
Daily they kill your citizens
How broken
Your heart is with sorrow
How large your grief
Oh my poor city
Brutality goes on and on
Death, murder in your streets
You witness the genocide of your children
I smell fresh blood all over you
Feel your pain in my bones
Your green dress is red now
Your happy face is faded away
All I can do for you is pray
Asking God for a better destiny
By Shafiqa
Photo by Joe Calton
Dear Shafiqa
Your beautifully written poem is so moving, so heart-breaking. When I read it I feel your pain and your city’s pain, and all of your people’s deep, long, suffering. Please know you are remembered, cared about, that all over the world, even as far as New Zealand, other hearts are aching with yours, and other tears are flowing with yours, because of your courage to write so honestly. Thankyou.
Dear Shafiqa,
“I smell fresh blood all over you” – the most harrowing image in a strong poem. This focuses the horror. We pray along with you.
Thanks for the reminder.
I feel like your poem is a silent scream. You tell us your feelings, we can see your pain through the words, we can see the horror through sentences. I feel like i touched your inside, you express yourself for everyone to understand. So i don’t know you, you don’t know me. But i understood. And i want you to know that you are not alone, we’re all here, we believe in you, you are very impressive, and you deserve the best
This is very impressive. You are very impressive by your writing. So truly i tell you, you are talented and i will always be convinced of that. If you ever feel down, you know that on this earth, there is one person who believes (and none will ever change my mind) that you are talented
“Feel your pain in my bones
Your green dress is red now”
I really like your way of describing the images of the Kabul. It makes me feel the city vivid. I could know the sense of incapability for you to save your city and the strong willing to devote yourself for Kabul. No one want to see the things most important in your life become worse and worse every day. Be more confident and insist on your writing to let more people know your situation. Thank you.
Dear Shafiqa,
The imagery you use in this poem is very powerful. I like how you compare Kabul to a mother and its citizens as her children. The poem becomes even more powerful when you talk about Kabul’s pain. I especially like the line, “Your green dress is red now.” Green is a color normally associated with life and red is a color that can be associated with blood. It does a good job of showing how violence has tainted Kabul. Thank you for writing this poem. It’s a very powerful piece of writing and it helps raise awareness to what’s happening in Kabul.