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Ms. Sakuntala Galanga, Alumna UMISAA from Sri Lanka shares her poem about her Afghan friends

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Sri Lanka - 15th September 2021

 

 

Dear Kabul; Dear Friends;


I sit and sip my tea

Under a Rose-Apple tree

The clouds are free

The wind is free

 
Farid, Hamida, Mustafa

Dear (Pet) Hanifa, Kubra, Masooma

Sher Ali, Tamim, Haseeb, Yaar Azizi!

Have I missed any name here?

Oh! My dearest Latifa; Latifi!

 

I sit and sip my sweet tea

The birds are free

Even the tiny ants and bees!

Tak tak tak tak tak free

Oh! free…

 

In the time we stole from ‘the time’

Dear friends did we ever do a crime?

Like in the days we slept so close in the room we did share

I’m not any close today to wake you up from your nightmare!

I’m having my cup of tea

Under a Rose-Apple tree

 

Dear Kabul, I’ve only seen you through my friends’ eyes

I’ve known your glory within their story

I feel you within my friends’ silence

Will my friends ever feel the breeze of your mountains?

 

Over the mountains, sky, stars, moonlight

Falling darkness is free

Worlds apart I sit here free

Tak tak tak tak free…

 

The sun is setting free

Will you? Tomorrow? rise free?

Under a Rose-Apple tree

I sit and sip

My cold salty tea…