Foliage Poem by Khurshid Alam

Leaves foliage, the green turbans, on
The silky branches to clutch on unsuccessful
Efforts.

What thought the farmers have?
To prevent the sun pass across?

The sisters are sisters without brothers
The brothers are brothers without sisters

No relation the farmers harvest
The sandy fields cannot be watered
By the oasis.
The girls should not share the little water
They should not stand on their feet.
They must foliage, clumber; the parasites
Should hope for no resort.

The sands hold no centrifuge
The buccaneers should roll over
The world and no grass should be grown
No sleep for them and no sleep for
Any one else.

(This poem has been written in reaction to the radical cleric of Taliban Maulana Fazlullah who announced banning of schools for females in the Swat district of Pakistan’s North Western Frontier Province on December 24,2008. This poem appeared with The Blu Fog Journal, April 1,2009) .