Saturday, August 21, 2021

BACK BEHIND THE BURKA

by Virgilio Goncalves


A Taliban fighter walking past a beauty salon in Kabul on Wednesday.Credit: Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images via The New York Times, August 19, 2021


for 20 years, hope:
a hint of freedom
a trace of peace
a slither of choice
 
finally, for women,
possibility of education
opportunity to have a voice
chance to walk streets without fear
 
within 20 days, despair:
that hint of freedom incinerated
like burning books
that trace of peace throttled
             like silent screams
that slither of choice sliced 
             like cut throats
 
amid
 
security intelligence
not worth a dime
 
and an avalanche of tears
never enough to drown foreboding
 

Virgilio Goncalves has been a journalist, teacher and tennis coach. He has a nomadic bent, having lived in various countries, including South Africa, Portugal and Australia. His poems and short stories have been published in Australian anthologies. Virgilio, as with other nomads, will forever be restless because his goal in life is to rid the world of misery.