When the Taliban Comes Back

When The Ta-Li-Ban Come Back

When the Ta-Li-Ban come back,
Then we girls will quit the school
For the acid they would throw
Would our faces burn away.

When the Ta-Li-Ban come back,
Women will not doctors be,
Jobs are not for such as us,
Worthless creatures owned by men,
They may beat us as they please.

When the Ta-Li-Ban come back,
I will marry old Rashid,
I must make a good third wife,
For I’m nine and just the age
Of the Prophet’s youngest bride
When she graced his marriage bed.
Peace should be upon his name,
He is perfect in all things.
Baby-wives obey and serve,
Keeping tears from off our cheeks.

When the Ta-Li-Ban come back,
Women then will know their place,
Mother must the burka wear,
Never show a man her face,
Father must go out with her,
Or they’ll whip her in the street.

When the Ta-Li-Ban come back,
Girls must not report a rape.
Lacking four Believers who
Testify it was by force,
They would scream beneath the stones,
Dying for adultery.

When America goes home,
And the Ta-Li-Ban come back,
We will know to thank you for
Living as our mothers lived,
All subservient to men,
Thirteen centuries ago.

     ~Robert A. Hall, Former SSgt, USMC

Permission to publish this blank-verse poem is granted to anyone with the courage. But remember Theo van Gogh and the Danish cartoonists.