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Infidel Traveler |
Qa’en
Shindland of the plains
Lashkar Gah by the river
Nok Kundi
Kalat
Panjgur in the mountains
Coastal Ormara
Nushki dwarfed by the clouds
Qal’el-ye Now
Feyzabad
Sar-e Pol
Khash among the grasses
Chahar Borjak looking over Hamun-i-Lora
Sarbaz with mammoth rock shoulders
Nebbandan across the meaningless border
Ras Koh
Zahedan barely with breath in the lungs
Crossing the Helmand and looking back
To the osprey resettling
Sandykaci the hint of water over the hills
Asgabat to the air
Mazar-e Sharif
Mukry
Serabad in shadow, in sand
Across the Central Makran Range
Across Pakistan
Bela and then Karachi
One offers a bare chest
Without savvy
Without plan
Without regret of birthplace
Regret of origin
Regret of hatred,
Nothing stands between
The gun and the flesh,
The hate and the result
Of the thrust,
One watches long enough
To discern that the telecast
Does not speak for humanity,
One feels
That the love for
a living being,
Whether mother,
Wife, animal, child,
Can be spread to a love
For other beings,
Perhaps to all,
More easily than
The determination
To love only a few,
a few of a color,
of a country,
a few of a religion
Standing in the sun
Standing in the ‘enemy’ stronghold
Standing in the blue rays of nakedness
To receive at last this relief
copyright 2005
Andrew
Grossman |
