Atefah Lyrics

You were born in 88, never made it past your sweet 16
It seems dreams don't trickle down to peasants from queens
But please understand my habeebatee
Words can't communicate what you mean to me
Life ain't supposed to be a misery and mystery
It sickens me to think that you'd be lost into history
Until I die we fly to infinity I'll be sure the world knowsÉ
When your mother died at five in a sudden car crash
Your life was divided in the little shards of glass
You tried to hide it but these scars will last
It's hard to grasp another star collapsed
Your dad looked for visions of your mom in his arm
When he should've been looking in your eyes all along
Not realizing dawn when the sunrise is gone
So I do my best to right wrongs in this song

[Chorus]

Hassan came along as a glimmer of hope
When your grandparents treated you like a ghost
And a hermit turned butterfly when love bloomed
But you weren't allowed to date so it had to cocoon
Innocence stripped at the hands of Ali
Darabee when you tried to break free
Until I die, we fly to infinity
I'll be sure the world knows
If the moral police were really doing their job
They couldn't have claimed to use Sharia Law
In the name of Allah, humanity and innocence
You were too jameelah in and out for imprisonment
1 secret kept, 3 years of abuse
1 prison sentence, 1 rope and 1 noose
1 hundred lashes for confessing the truth
1 little girl too pure for this world

[Chorus]

I can see you in my mind's eye as you fly by
And I'd reverse time on Hahji Rezhi
If I could find how to rearrange the stars
Move space and time, break you out of your bars
Wipe the tears from your face, sew up your scars
Stop the whole human race in place for what they carved
Until I die, we fly to infinity
I'll be sure the world knows
Life is to be loved (and) love is to be lived
(And) You went to the light (and) you were just a kid
They do what they did cause they could see the spirit in ya
You stood up for yourself, you were life's taliba
Real woman fighting back when they tried to hide this
Voice for the oppressed in a world of laryngitis
Close your eyes with the knowledge you saved
A million other girls from an early grave
Atefah, you can now close your eyes
Spread your wings to the skies
Atefah, you didn't die in vain
I'll get this to change