Tempered Silence

Slicing through the last morsel of hope kept alive
but by the mercy of the tempered silence
stitched beneath her strength, his dystopian dagger
quashed her dead-on-arrival dream.

And like the dried primrose of autumn she fails to revive,
so too do those cerulean sobs fail to bring deliverance
to the daughter beside her, now languishing
beneath the implacable, starry night.

Cover photo: Alina de Albergaria, Morocco, 2011

“Afghan Girl,” Steve McCurry’s iconic photo which portrays the desperate beauty behind Sharbat Gula’s twelve-year-old eyes, is the inspiration behind “Tempered Silence” (previously titled “Ivory Silence”.) 37 years is far too long for that image to live in my heart without giving something in return, especially at this point in time. This poem is dedicated to all the girls that followed Gula. May “Ivory Silence” make a dent in my debt to the Universe, while speaking the voice of justice.