For the last American soldier:
Goodbye General
Greet your daughter from the girls of Kabul
Tell her about the colorful dance of kites,
as if they were the earrings of the sky
Tell her about the taste of Afghan food,
which tastes like sweet adventures
Tell all mirrors are aquariums
For fish that smile with children’s lips
Don’t tell the truth
Do not say that you shot dreams
Do not say that you have built new graves
For human rights and children
Do not tell any facts about USA
in Afghanistan
Let the diplomats wipe the blood from the roads with their tongues
Do not tell children anything
About the fall of democracy
from the plane
About pushing emotion into a hole full of rotten water
About the shouts you made to keep the children away
American children will be scared
And they will doubt your humanity
Just say: our war is over, Let’s play a new game!
Samay Hamed
The president of PEN Afghanistan
A medical doctor by profession, Dr. Samay Hamed is a well-known poet, writer, melody composer and TV director from Afghanistan. He is the winner of the nine national awards and two international awards, including he International Free Press Award 2003 from the Comittee to Protect Journalists New York and the Kurt Tocholsky prize 2010 from Swedish PEN. Hamed has published 34 books. He is a member of Danish PEN and a key founder of Afghanistan PEN.
