A Million Broken Dreams
Domenick Fini / V Mag at UVA
At the time of writing, it had been 794 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from school and 327 days since the group banned women from universities.
I can't count them
What 790 days can do
To an unfree human
But I can count the days for you
And there's an Afghan girl
Counting every star
Until the morning light covers the star’s array
But the darkness it falters to sway
That which has taken over
Her once-upon-a-dream
Now ticking against the clock
Sinking deeper into a chasm
Rests her breaking heart
I can't count them
What 790 days can do
To empty carts
But I can count the days for you
And there's a child
Counting every penny
Until it makes for a bread
Before another sibling
Is failed to be fed
And wasted
Somewhere in the corners
Within damned borders
I can't count them
What 790 days can do
To a forgotten nation
But I can count the days for you
//
The absurdity of knowing
And the resistance to accept
There's a wire somewhere in between
Outset from one chasm to another
And the caravan is leading
I am daydreaming
Whether the fall
Leads to the stars
And whether my pen
Will rewrite them and amend
But I have heard
Wishes have been made
Upon all that escaped
Leaving this expansion
All to myself
If only wishes were granted
By shooting missiles
The starving children would softly whistle
To the open sky and singing birds
But I have heard
Angels have huge wings
To carry them all
Wings greater
Than piling halls
Of ravaged dreams
Fading into the bleak
Like the perishing rose
Catching her tears
Behind barred windows
She is revived by a memory
That flavor of freedom
And opened gates
Where she takes
The route to school
But I have heard
How they bury her youth
Wake me up
Wake me up
There's no escape