The spirits of the dead

cry out to the living in

Dushti Laila

their voices carried across the sands

by the nightwinds.

 

Listen.

 

So many voices

crying out in the wilderness

justice for the dead of

Dushti Laila.

 

As you drive across the desert

you can see the bones of the victims

for you can hide nothing forever in the desert

the shifting sands and animals

will expose that which killers wish to hide,

so it is in Dushti Laila

that place of mass graves.

 

Dushti Laila is a stretch of desert in Northern Afghanistan.