Down the Road of Kabul

By Mahtab EB

You are gonna be okay, it’s just the Taliban
Oh just the Taliban…
How simple words to bring on your mouth
Years of nonstop war
Just the Taliban?
A home with no breadwinner
Children screaming out of hunger
Still not a big deal?

That little married off girl
Who was forced to marry at 14
Because she is a girl
And that she’s people’s daughter
Still not a big deal!?

Can’t study, work or go out
Can’t dress or live the way I want
Caged, silenced, stopped
Voiceless, nameless and faceless
Invisible with no present or future
Only a past which was a short dream
Do you still think, I’m gonna be okay?

Shattered homes and dreams
Empty streets and hearts
Violence’s in board daylight
And thousands of silenced stories and words…
No more hope or dreams
Neither any freedom or happiness
No more dreams of better future
And no more dreams of a better tomorrow
Still not a problem?

Here in Kabul I’m allowed to exist
But not to live!
In this land of sadness and poorness
Place of fear and tear
But you know what?
I never stopped seeing a brighter future
Where everyone lives happily and girls can go to school
I never stopped dreaming of a peaceful Kabul
Where happiness knocks people’s door
Right, they could silence my voice
But I can change the future by dreaming as big as I can

Image Credit: Adobe Stock

Author Bio: Mahtab EB is a 17-year-old who recently graduated from an online school. She used to read books and journal about everything in my notebook, and it improved her writing skills, enabling her to develop a great passion for writing that eventually led her to apply to this workshop. She believes stories and writing pieces are a powerful form to express her thoughts and emotions freely. She would continue to write amazing pieces in the future cause she learnt the most valuable things about writing in this workshop.