Lost

By Mohammad Zaki Zaki

I don’t know where I am
I’m lost in this gloomy place

Everyone is gossiping about me, backbiting me
Everyone feels envious of me, insulting me

They see only my faults
Everyone tries to push me down

I don’t know where I am
Everyone misguides me

Everyone strives to hurt me, somewhere, somehow
They ignore my good deeds

No one is trustworthy or reliable
No one is friendly enough, no one’s a confidant,

No one can be themselves
No one keeps a secret

Let’s be honest, let’s be kind I say
Let’s live in peace. Life is too short to waste

Let’s see the goodness
Let’s hide the badness

I wish I could remake my country
I wish I could uplift my nation

I wish to remove poverty
I wish to cooperate with my homelanders

I wish to educate women
I wish to banish prejudice

I want to bring calmness
to have a safe country

I wonder where I truly stand
I am perplexed about who I am

God bless my country
God bless my community

As I walk home through the streets of Kabul
I see beggars, a young lady pleading

for a loaf of bread
An elderly man asking for one afghani

A small child crying for a coin
An educated person asking for car fare

My heart breaks as hope fades
I try to ignore them

How I wish I could rescue them
But it’s daunting when I have nothing to give

Life seems meaningless I can’t sleep
My neighbor goes hungry

I struggle to convince myself I’m seeking humanity
in a country where that simple word seems missing

I keep searching for how to be a human
and find humanity