Triolet for Afghanistan

A poem

 

my country

is a fractured mirror

a continuous fire

a burning garden

—Asadulla Habib

 

At Kag Khana four boys flee

the peacemakers’ war, the Pashtun lord.

Sandflies tear their cheeks, scars seed

at Kag Khana. Four boys flee

across mountains bereft of the grace of trees

that will cast them back

to Kag Khana four shadows to be

peacemakers, lords of war?