Afghan Civil Society Forum
 

ACSF

The goal of ACSF is to promote the development of civil society in Afghanistan.

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What is civil society?

Civil society refers to the space which lies between the state and private sectors and represent un-coerced collective action around common interests, purposes and values. Civil society comprises a diversity of spaces, actors and institutions varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. Civil society is valued for its civilian nature and its role in strengthening peace and stability.

 

ACSF believes in democratic principles, people's participation and is committed to:
  • Empowering the Afghan population
  • Embracing the diversity of civil society actors
  • Striving for inclusiveness in processes and actions
  • Emphasizing non-partisanship, transparency and accountability
  • Promoting a sense of voluntarism and social activism

You are here: Home> Poems> The Bloody Epitaph

  

 

 

 

Partaw Naderi

The Bloody Epitaph
 

This palm tree has no hope of spring

This palm tree blossoms

with a hundred wounds

— the daily wounds of a thousand tragedies

— the nightly wounds of a thousand calamities

This palm tree is a bloody epitaph

at the crossroads of the century

 

*

 

Here, by the river,

  • a river of blood and tears —

the roots of this palm tree

are congealed with disaster

are knotted with the blind roots of time

 

*

 

Here, the sky

unwinds its bloody cloth

from barren red clouds

to shroud the shattered lid of a coffin

  • a broken mirror of rain

This palm tree has no hope of spring

 

*

This palm tree has no hope of spring

This palm tree is starred

with a hundred bruises

from the whip of the north wind

My palm!

My only tree!

My spring!

Many years have passed

since the bird of blossoms

flew away from your desiccated branches

 

Butterflies abandon you

My heart is broken

Kabul
November, 1989

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