Girls who face death for wanting education

Lines on the shooting in the head of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai and the threats to the life of Hina Khan because of their support for girls' education

 When God took mud from the primaeval swamp
 And fashioned Man in blood-red clay
 He said, "Go forth explore thy world,
 Seek knowledge, learn and follow in my way."

 He did not make Man's partner, lonely Eve,
 To tread the path in blindness and in woe,
 Nor hold her solely guilty for the timeless crime
 For which he sternly bade them both to "Go!"

 Had Miriam not saved her brother's life,
 And sent him floating in the reedy Nile,
 Their people would have lost the Promised Land,
 And stayed forever slaves of Egypt's guile.

 And parched her people would have died
 Drought-choked in barren desert thirst,
 Had she not perished in that sterile place
 From which the pregnant waters grieving burst.

 Without Bathsheba, Solomon the wise,
 Forever would have stayed unknown, unborn,
 Without Delilah's wiles, would Samson have
 Remained unbroken with his locks unshorn.

 Proud Esther saved her people from a mortal fate,
 When drunken, vile Ahasuerus was king,
 Her wit, her skill and keen sagacity
 Made her his queen and capped his lethal sting.

 So why does Ignorance with fetid breath
 Now crush such women 'neath his clumsy feet?
 The Prophet's children fear that women know
 No more about the world than men think meet?

 Malala, Hina keep your courage strong,
 Stand up against the blind, misguided throng.
 For education is no thing to fear or dread,
 Your sacrifice will right a godless wrong.