What goes through the mind of an Afghan woman?
The plight of Afghani women is not a dilemma new
And some might believe that it’s quite untrue
But what I ask Is how long we’ll hide behind this mask
This mask of ignorance Are we really this inhumane to show such dissonance
So let me use this opportunity
To bring this under scrutiny
What goes through the minds of these poor women
And how they live a life, we merely call fiction.
“It feels like yesterday when I sat on those chairs,
And made the decisions that seemed fair.
We were the people of our own
And now it’s been set in stone
That we are merely a man’s property,
Or more aptly, a case of charity.
They call it “modesty”
But honestly, this feels like an odyssey
That will only end
When we all are dead.
I can’t look in the eyes of my little girl anymore,
When she resorts to implore
On when she’ll get to go the school
And I stand there silent
looking like a fool.
The kids ask me about their friends
Who had to run off to a far land
How can I make them understand
That the greed of a few is the cause of their blues
At the end of the day,
I sit all alone Looking at the stars, scared to the bone.
Wondering if we’ll be ever be as free as the stars
Or just keep bleeding out from our scars.”
Now you know
How it feels to live in the shadows.
This is a cry of help
Of the women who can’t see the light at the end.
What are we doing as the society
For the women who are facing such atrocities?
This war is of our own making
And the consequences are quite awakening.
This is the time to ask the question
How low we’ll stoop to satiate our greed of power?
And to be candid, a victory without survivors
Will taste quite sour.
Nikita Salgania, Class XII,
DAV Public School, Patiala
