Kabul; Saib-e-Tabrizi

~ I just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossini on my back to the UK. The book is a beautiful one and if possible, I enjoyed it even more so than I did The Kite Runner (his first novel). Possibly because this time he concentrates on the lives of two women and their fight for survival in a man's world. I'd recommend it to anyone, it's one of those books where you can just feel every emotion the characters feel, it's so real, so well written. Below is the poem of which the book title is extracted from. I find it quite beautiful, that someone could write so passionately about the place they call home. And all of it's hidden secrets behind closed doors

Ah! How beautiful is Kabul encircled by her arid mountains
And Rose, of the trails of thorns she envies
Her gusts of powdered soil, slightly sting my eyes
But I love her, for knowing and loving are born of this same dust

My song exhalts her dazzling tulips
And at the beauty of her trees, I blush
How sparkling the water flows from Pul-I Bastaan!
May Allah protect such beauty from the evil eye of man!

Khizr chose the path to Kabul in order to reach Paradise
For her mountains brought him close to the delights of heaven
From the fort with sprawling walls, A Dragon of protection
Each stone is there more precious than the treasure of Shayagan

Every street of Kabul is enthralling to the eye
Through the bazaars, caravans of Egypt pass
One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs
And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls

Her laughter of mornings has the gaiety of flowers
Her nights of darkness, the reflections of lustrous hair
Her melodious nightingales, with passion sing their songs
Ardent tunes, as leaves enflamed, cascading from their throats

And I, I sing in the gardens of Jahanara, of Sharbara
And even the trumpets of heaven envy their green pastures