DAUGHTER OF AFGHANISTAN
Shirin Zahra
I am like spring.
My hair full of blossoms,
My heart brightened with sunshine,
My eyes clear,
My feet full of energy and my hands filled with goodwill,
I am an Afghan girl.
—
Read this poem in Persian here.
NOT MORE, NOT LESS, WE WANT EQUALITY
Negin Badakhsh
Do not idolize me on high pedestals
And do not chain my luscious hair.
Do not imprison me in cages and make my life bitter
And do not place sweets at the corner of the cage.
—
Read this poem in Persian here.
FOR AFGHANISTAN’S SCHOOL GIRLS
Marwa Subhan
In the past fourteen years, hundreds of Afghan girls have been targeted for going to schools. They have been poisoned and have gotten acid thrown on their faces. They have been killed and their schools have been burned. They have been abducted or threatened. This has led many to stop going to school, but millions continue to brave through the path from their houses to the broken buildings, tents and fields they have come to know as “school.” This poem is for them.
They send poison, and sometimes daggers.
They send fire, and sometimes hell.
For the girls of my homeland.
They bring spring, but made of ashes.
—
Read this poem in Persian here.