The late Amina Shah, sister of the renowned Afghan author, Idries Shah, was a poet, storyteller, photographer and traveller. These poems were written shortly after the Russian invasion. [Editor]

NO END TO ANYTHING

No, there is no end to anything, no end, no mend;
The dismaying drip of dank despair, the murdered friend
Whose voice will never leave your ear until your world shall end…
End? End? But there is no end to anything. The world will spin
Always in circles, circles, warm and fat with sin,
A ferris-wheel of frenzy in incessant farmyard din,
And the gaunt grey masks of homeless, silent, end to end,
Lonely, hungry, starved of land. Allah, to them send
The wolves of vengeance soon, the red invader’s heart to rend.
There is no end to sunshine, there is no end to rain,
My bones, my flesh will crumble to make green grass again.
My bones will turn to powder, but there is no end to pain,
There is no end to hating. Shall I return again
And laugh whilst all around me weep beneath the tyrant’s reign?
No, there is no end to anything, the evil hand in glove
With those who do not understand the message of the Dove,
But best of all, there is no end
There is no end, to
Love.

THE QUESTIONING CHILD

Why do we walk, my Mother’s Mother through the mountains and the pass?
Why do we leave Mother and Father, silent, hidden in the grass?
Where are all our sheep and horses, why do our empty bellies swell?
Why do the flying gunships bomb us with the flames as hot as Hell?
Hush, male child of seven summers, walk on o’er this snowy hill.
Afghan hearts are strong and willing to take on the good and ill.
Grow strong, grow strong as Afghan eagles; shelter till you are a man –
And then with risen Men of Freedom, win your fields back, As you can!