KABUL 2021

Forty-five year old
Najila
My childhood playmate
Beyond Hindu Kush walls
Flames of sun licked summer days
Crouched in the cellar
We halved mangoes between us
Pulse of autumn
Strummed a tune
On skies of Kabul
She brought out poems
Smelling of apricots
Nejila, the bright eyed one
Who twisted colourful candy papers
To Skirt dolls
Painting lips
With stain of ripe sour cherries
Her laugh tinkle of glass bangles
Forty-five year old
Najila
My childhood playmate
Beyond Hindu Kush walls
A blizzard crossed the Khyber Pass
Waiting by gates of Kabul
Sunken footprints
Draining blood from air
That was when she slammed shut
Windows and doors
And hung upside down
On the ceiling
Like a bat, or a Star
Aloft an upturned world
Sea roared in her breath
Crimson fountains spouted across the street
Where children once played marbles
Heart of moon burnt hollow by wild fire
Across unnamed tombs
A black sea of ashes and sighs
Praise be to Merciful God
For locked doors and windows
She hung Upside down
Forty-five year old
Najila
My childhood playmate
Beyond Hindu Kush walls
She hung Upside down
Venus on the night sky
Awaiting dawn