they finally found you
after 17 years
You were surprised
your picture had created any interest
it was good, you said, if it had served
as an inspiration to others
though you expressed mostly shame
with regards to your tattered cloak
you wear such a fine purple burka now
When that same photographer found you
you could only look at his lense
Those once fiery eyes
no longer held any spark
they had grown blunt and stupid
So, you can write your name and recite
several passages from the koran
lucky you
After 17 years
no one could have hoped to have found that green-eyed girl
that wild-eyed orphan with so much hate and passion
I could have loved that girl
but this woman
this dull metamorphosis
mother of two
with a couple of goats and a vegetable patch
and a husband who drained the gold from those sea-green eyes . . .
well, you’re as haggard as your country now
born unto your fate
perhaps as it was written
despite that moment
when the National Geographic guy
captured something dangerous and true
fierce, beautiful
fleeting
—Larry Crist