today my amaryllis bloomed orange
dotted with red.
today is the first day of a war.
on tv, a soldier with green and beige spots said,
“they honestly think it’s an honour to die for their country
and we’re going to give them the opportunity.”
it’s an honour for him too, I hear.
when I sleep I dream of children
splattered with blood,
the amaryllis
big as a freckled face
jan. 16, 1991
I remembered this poem when the U.S. abandoned the Afghan people. (Altho it was written for one of the Gulf wars.)
I’ve known many many Afghans as students (and met some refugees in Japan of all places- I bought a carpet from them that they had carried from Afghanistan. Many people have their money / savings in carpets instead of banks, so they wanted to sell, needed the money and Japanese aren’t really into the style of knotted carpets… so it was a good thing to do, but it broke my heart to buy their carpet. Gorgeous dark blue and pink and white, light blue….)
These days I’m wearing the necklace an Afghani student gave to me- handmade little silver feathers on a delicate chain.