Mother asked
To venture
Towards the sun.
The way there
Had a forest
Full of vultures,
Each waiting to gnaw,
Not at the body,
But the thread
Of my very existence.
Mother birthed a girl;
The country birthed a boy.
For Noria and for the girls who must become sons to survive.
Context: (written for Noria, who had to change her identity to survive in Afghanistan)