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?