A poem by Parwana Amiri
Parwana Amiri is an author, poet and activist from Afghanistan who is living in Greece since September 2019. Her poetry may seem softly written, but it contains hidden stories and bitter truths. With her work, she challenges the power of art and poetry to convey these bitter truths of the times. She wrote this poem to express her feelings that she cannot share elsewhere, feelings that she has every night, thinking about the days passing and her future in this world, in which she cannot find her dreams. Like many youths and children, Parwana makes her dreams in a world that she wants to live in, a dream world in which borders do not exist.

Illustration by Alexandra Nikolova (Ål Nik).
In the silence of the darkness, watched over by the mom (Sun) and dad (Moon), she creates her realities in poems, depicting a world she craves for. She lies on the Mother earth who is for all of us.
Every night, before sleep
Every night, silently
Every night, lonely
I dress my harsh realities
In dreams
Every night, with my pen
Every night, with my words
I hug my dreams
I review my story
Every night, before sleep
Every night, when all sleep
In my silence, with myself
I build with my words
A new world
In my world, home is for all
in my world, school is a right
In my world, you have peace
In my world, war is banned
In my world, the world is for all
Sun is mom, moon dad
Mother earth is a planet for all
But
When I close my eyes
In dreams, as in reality,
I live nightmares ……