Remembering the Peshawar Child Massacre

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai condemned the attack, saying in a statement: “I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold-blooded act of terror in Peshawar that is unfolding before us”. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai said his “heart is bleeding” and his family is “traumatized” over the Peshawar Army Public School massacre. 

---

Sunday Announcements are in the works and will post later today, but our Pakistani friends remind us of the December 16, 2014 terrorist attack on Peshawar Army School where 149 people including 132 schoolchildren ranging between eight and eighteen years of age were murdered. This attack is the world’s fourth deadliest school massacre. It is called by many “The Pakistani  9/11.” The massacre birthed more violence and death and Pakistan lifted its moratorium on capital punishment. Anjum ji has written an impassioned poem to commemorate the day and its trauma. / J.D.

Wake Up Faith Wake Up,
Its time for prayer
Oh let me sleep a little more
I’m exhausted and a little sore
I played till late
to get a high score

Wake Up Life Wake Up
you have a purpose
work and serve work and pray
honest n faithful you must stay
O let me enjoy
Do not annoy’

Wake Up Rich Wake Up
Its time to pay
Spend Spend for The Giver
riches will become a river
O why why should I?
I have much, yet to buy..

Wake Up Books Wake Up
Its time to study
Read read read all the best
read n write,never let it rest
This is the Good
This is The best

Wake Up Human Wake Up
Its time to go
you have been lazy n slow
enemy is winning on the go
killing is not the way
give love, tolerance show.

Wake Up Child Wake Up
Its time for school
Wake Up, rise and shine
But what a waste and wild
Child killed for a killed child.
Nothing is mine, Nothing thine
Wake Up, Repent, Wake Up Peace’
Sleep Hatred Sleep!

“POETRY PEACE and REFORM Go Together -Let Us All Strive for PEACE on EARTH for ALL -Let Us Make a Better World -WRITE To Make PEACE PREVAIL.”  

© 2018, Anjum Wasim Dar (poem and illustrations), (Poetic Oceans); photograph of the school auditorium courtesy of Obaid Raza under CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

---

ABOUT

Testimonials

Disclosure

Facebook

Twitter

Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. I currently run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers. My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman. My poetry was recently read by Northern California actor Richard Lingua for Poetry Woodshed, Belfast Community Radio. I was featured in a lengthy interview on the Creative Nexus Radio Show where I was dubbed “Poetry Champion.”

---

The BeZine: Waging the Peace, An Interfaith Exploration featuring Fr. Daniel Sormani, Rev. Benjamin Meyers, and the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi among others

“What if our religion was each other. If our practice was our life. If prayer, our words. What if the temple was the Earth. If forests were our church. If holy water–the rivers, lakes, and ocean. What if meditation was our relationships. If the teacher was life. If wisdom was self-knowledge. If love was the center of our being.” Ganga White, teacher and exponent of Yoga and founder of White Lotus, a Yoga center and retreat house in Santa Barbara, CA

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.” Lucille Clifton