They are going to go back
To doing the same thing
After the speechifying
And grandstanding

Halala Malala
Reads an editorial here
Malala Yousafzai
Is a leading spokesperson
For girls’ rights to education

They are going to go back
Others say wistfully
To doing the same thing
(boys wear blue girls
captive cheap labour)

Halala Malala
A survivor and now
A leading spokesperson
For girls’ rights to education

There are those who say
She’s a pawn of the West
Now disparaging her country
From oceans away (safer)

Oceans away safer now
From dark-age beliefs
She inspiring young girls
In Pakistan and elsewhere

Elsewhere Cuba
Has the highest literacy
In the world spending
Five times as much
On schools than war

Which is quite the opposite
Of what that Great Protector
Of our morals does over there
(oceans away safer)

Halala Malala
In spite of ourselves

“Nobel Peace Prize winner inspiring Pakistani girls to seek more education” (Cape Times, Oct 13 2014).