Bibliofreakblog

FreeVerse: Sadhar Kahn

My FreeVerse is coming a bit late this week.  On the West Coast it is technically Thursday already.

The poem I’d like to feature is not by a famous poet.

I’m almost positive you’ve never heard of him.

He’s never been published in any magazines or journals.  He’s never even had a chapbook.  

His name is Sadhar Kahn, and he’s a Mujahadeen Commandhan in the Badakshan region of Afghanistan.  

Needless to say, he’s a tough dude.  He’s fought in multiple wars.

He’s also a huge supporter of female education.

The one poem ever read by anyone outside of Afghanistan is a loose translation from the original Dari in which he wrote it.  He recited it one night to Greg Mortenson, in hopes of conveying his feelings.

Greg published it in his book Stones into Schools.

It has no title, but the chapter in which it appears is called “The Sound of Peace”, which is a line from the poem.

Untitled by Sadhar Kahn

You wonder why I sit,
here on this rock,
by the river,
doing nothing?

There is so much work to be done for my people.
We have so little food,
we have so few jobs,
our fields are in shambles,
and still there are land mines everywhere.

So I am here to listen to
the quiet,
the water,
and the singing trees.

This is the sound of peace
in the presence of Allah.
After thirty years as a mujahadeen,
I have grown old fighting.
I resent the sound of destruction.

I am so weary of war.