“I Was a Girl Who Loved the Sky” by Sharifa Sarwary

I am…
A girl from the silence of forgotten dreams,
A girl who once loved school —
Loved to learn,
Loved the gentle promise of tomorrow whispered through books and chalkboards.

Each morning,
I held my best friend’s hand tightly,
And we’d walk to school, Laughing, sometimes crying —
But always, always dreaming.

Then one day,
The doors of our school slammed shut.
A dark shadow fell across our land —
A shadow that feared the light in a girl’s eyes.

The angels of our streets —
The girls who once ran free — Could no longer walk without fear.
They were broken, silenced, Caged in a world that had turned against their wings.

My best friend…
The one with a thousand dreams in her heart,
She was forced into marriage with a man much older than her.
She didn’t choose that life — it was chosen for her.
She disappeared into silence…
and I was left behind, Alone among the ruins of everything we once hoped for.

She began a new life with a broken heart,
And I stayed, holding onto a fading hope that one day,
This nightmare would end. That the angels would rise again,
That I’d see them dancing freely through the streets, Chasing their dreams under a free sky

Do you know something?
Life was beautiful…
Back when the sky was not filled with stars, but birds.
We used to fly without fear, Singing songs of joy in the endless blue.

But then the hunter came.
And we, the birds, became prey.

Now, each day feels like a quiet step closer to death.
Flight has become a memory, a fading dream.

There’s a tight knot in my throat that steals my song.
I can’t even look up anymore —
The sky feels empty now.
The birds are gone.

Inside an invisible cage,
I jump from corner to corner, trying to stretch my wings,
But fate holds me down,
And this nightmare keeps repeating.

Even thinking about it brings tears,
And every tear draws me closer to a silent end.

Like a withering flower in a burning field,
I feel myself fading —
But no, I will not let my dreams die.

I will not forget how it felt to fly.

I sweat.
I cry.
I fight to break the locks around me.

Because deep down,
I feel — someone is waiting for me in the skies.
Someone who believes in me,
Someone who whispers hope into my heart.

And one day,
With my dreams as wings,
I will rise again.
And I will sing — From the sky itself.