Mountains of our Mind - Afghanistan

The death earlier this week of Zahir Shah, the former King of Afghanistan, signals the end of an era in Afghanistan. I spent four years living and working in Afghanistan and feel passionately about the landscape, the people and understand the tragedy which has befallen this beautiful country.

My book Mountains of our Mind - Afghanistan published by
india research press (www.indiaresearchpress) is a photographic essay and a collection of poetry on Afghanistan.

The book is available internationally at www.indiaresearchpress or if you live in New Zealand, Take Note Bookshop, Hokitika, New Zealand. (takenote.hokitika@xtra.co.nz) There are references to the King of Afghanistan.

I hope you buy the book.

Bob McKerrow

Afghan Wind


Whisper wind, whisper higher
Over mosaic dome and silver spire
Blow on in a peaceful hush,
Don't disturb the Hindu Kush

Whisper wind, whisper loud
Through stormy and knotted clouds
Twist back the timeless desert sands
To Alexander, Chengis Khan and Timurlane

Tell us wind, tell us all
Of those long and desperate wars
Thrice the British tried to part
Your lands beneath the Khyber Pass

Tell us wind, tell us more
Of home-forged guns, knives and swords
Restricting all foreign powers
Always free as almond flowers

Whisper wind, whisper proud
Landlocked people, women under shroud
Bearded men of determination
Children working for a nation

Whisper wind, whisper higher
To a faith rid of earthly desire
And to Allah absolute
Whisper wind of these truths

Samanghan, Afghanistan, April 1976

Mountain Roadman

Mountain Roadman

Flesh against wood and metal
His mettle against mountains of rock
Now broken in body and spirit
He who carved these roads aloft

His face was as worn as his shovel
Building roads in the Hindu Kush
And his ageing back bent double
From all the boulders he'd pushed

His reward but a sear of flour a day
Received humbly in callused hands
As he prays, "Allah O Akbar"
His reward can't be in this land

Anjouman, Badakhshan, Afghanistan. June 1995

Mountains of Our Mind

In starting off a new blog, I would like to post a poem I wrote in 1994 while working in Afghanistan. It is the title of one of my books, Mountains of our Mind - Afghanistan, published by tara press, New Delhi. The book can be purchased through the websites www.indiaresearchpress

Mountains of our Mind

From the courtyard of our dreams
To the mountains of our mind
We escape the blood and violence
To a white world sublime

Born on the edge of a cloud
I saw snowflakes form
Together we danced a ring of fire
Before the day was born

We travel on a moonship
Where lunacy dictates
Where love is like a mountain
And where there is no hate

We scud along the summit ridge
Where the updrafts push
I am the King of Kabul
And lord the Hindu Kush

Panjcher Valley, June 1994