Poetry of the Taliban — An Excerpt from Quatrains

As part of our week-long feature on Poetry of the Taliban, each day we will post a poem in its entirety or an excerpt. For more on Poetry of the Taliban, you can browse the book in Google Preview or read reviews and features about the book. Finally, don’t forget that you can win a FREE copy of the book.

In “Quatrains,” Nasrat, a female poet, draws upon the traditions of Persian and Urdu verse as well as Afghan history and the natural beauty of the country. Here is an excerpt from the poem:

Let’s hug each other;
Let’s unite ourselves
It is the time of love and brotherhood;
The time of hate has passed.

My competitor cut my heart;
Tears streamed from my eyes.
O relentless one, your heart is harder than stone;
I weep for you and you laugh at me.

We love these dusty and muddy houses;
We love the dusty deserts of this country.
But the enemy has stolen their light;
We love these wounded black mountains.