The walls stand high.
Tall and mighty they guard the pass. Through them, another place, another life awaits. It is so different, so surreal. Truth hides behind those walls, In a garden, hiding from the lies. Hiding from those that seek it, Who are brought there by falsehood. The walls are strong, and few will pass. Those who are strong, May still be brought low by truth. Hope flees before it. Wonderful tales turn tail and flee. As do lies, which led the seeker here. To these walls the seeker came, Hoping for joy and a new life. The seeker breached the walls, And truth was waiting behind them, As a predator for its prey. Truth dashed those hopes, As it did the lies that spawned them. As truth was exposed, The lies died away, Leaving the seeker, Alone with the truth That she had come to find. This free verse poem is based on chapter 5 of A Thousand Splendid Suns and is representing the main character, Mariam. Mariam is the seeker, searching for acceptance at her father, Jalil’s, house. The walls were chosen because of the quote “They were so tall, so foreboding, Jalil’s walls” (Pg. 30) Mariam went to Jalil’s house because she loved him, as he was his father. She was told he was not home, only to run through the gate in the walls to the garden the next day and see him at the window. She was led there by his lies, and on her return to her house, already abandoned by the father she thought had loved him, she saw her mother, who had hanged herself. Mariam was left alone with the truth that she had set out to find, and the knowledge of her father’s lies. |  |
