I swear that I will never stay silent

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.

Silence has never been a solution. For the work that Parwana does, she has been exposed to many questions, challenges and problems. But these have never been an obstacle as they helped her to grow. Exposing her emotions to suffering has allowed her to grow her resilience and speak out against the bombing attacks in Afghanistan, the people dying at Europe’s borders and refugees getting wounded in the camps.

Refugees like me Shukran Shirzad, are a vulnerable group of people who have been suffering in the camps, under tents, in the cold and heavy raining nights. But we have stayed silent.

But this silence will not bring about change. No mother deserves to live in that condition, no family , no child and no human being. I am doing these illustrations while living here and I am one of these wounded people who is suffering being here so what I illustrate is the reality of our lives

 

I swear that I will never stay silent

I swear to smiling of displaced children

I swear to tears of injured mothers

I swear to million of hidden dreams

That, I will never stay silent!

.

I swear to death borders, we passed

I swear to our beloved ones we lost

I swear to dark windy nights,in fear

That, I will never stay silent!

.

I swear to my dropped tears,hopeless

I swear to my tired pen, everynight

I swear to my hopes that are trapped

That, I will never stay silent!

.

I swear to our black and white world

I swear to our blood written”Help”

I swear to our hopes, that surround us

That, I will never stay silent!

.

I swear to our days, which does not pass

I swear to our pains, which are not cured

I swear to our beloved ones,who are died

That, I will never stay silent !

.

I swear to our repressed voices,

I swear to our fading faces

I swear to our trapped rights

That,I will never stay silent!

.

I swear if I came full of dream

I swear if those dreams were sunk

I swear to small dinghy in is the sea

That, I will never stay silent!

.

I swear to under feet respects

I swear to blood of my brother

To hijab of my sister ”Farkhonda”

To broken heart of Rahid’s mother

To closed fists of my homeland’s fathers

To sunny days in refugee camps,in Greece

To burning tents in Moria , Samos, Khios

To naked sculptures in Bosnia’s border

To married girls in young ages

To violance against women

To grey world of woundeds

To destructed hospital and schools.

Where students die under tables