I met her on the news, on stories in my phone, the glories of her tale 

Allegories of her name, 

Ring broken and omitted in legal records of her shame 

I claim, 

her pain, her shame, her crime 

Each time

I dare dream of the freedom she lived, the chains she broke so I may speak

They reek of her blood, 

I see in each man the coward that kills in slumber 

Can I put it in a number? The sisters, the mothers, the lovers we lost?

Lists of names running longer than the length of the rivers we’re drowned in 

Deeper than the ground we’re buried in 

Qandeel*, she lives in me

When I whisper her name with my sisters in prayer 

Qandeel, she lives in us

Where we lay bleeding, screaming, muffled,and  maimed 

When we chip away at the chains, piece by piece 

For a peace that we may never see

Ironing the crease, in an existence that won’t belong to me 

We chip away each day chanting, 

‘Qandeel’

Your name will set our daughters free.

 

*Qandeel Baloch was a Pakistani Social Media personality/model, who was a victim of honor-killing by her brother.