Photo by IsaaK Alexandre KaRslian for Unsplash.com
With Love to Our Sisters in Afghanistan
by Siobhan Fitzpatrick
Ocean falling into sky
sharia cries
where are the women?
the girls?
Erased from sunlight
visages obscured
preferably a burqa,
a hijab will do.
Your
gentle curves
elicit
violent fear,
passionate
hate.
Why?
Drip
Drip
Drip
leaks misogyny,
infiltrating
polluted waters
of cowards.
Virility’s dead
when a flower
with a voice
threatens.
You betray
Your mother,
Your daughter,
Your sister,
Your wife.
-Save your prayers-
Gone,
their pretty faces,
their sweet smiles,
any memory
of a woman.
Know this, sister.
you are not forgotten.
You live in our hearts.
Greedily
they steal your hope
-they cannot steal your soul-
Like the
Hindu Kush Mountains
you stand majestic
and strong,
no amount of
black and blue
cloth
can hide your greatness,
or obfuscate your truth.
copyright@SiobhanFitzpatrick