Graveyard Universe

* Graveyard, 2002, ©Alan Pogue. An Afghan boy
in the cemetery of the khacha Ghari refugee camp for
Afghans in Peshawar. This refugee camp is 25 years
old and houses 100,000 people. The graveyard
is the only open space.

Graveyard Universe

In his graveyard universe
long shadows play on cold brown dirt.
Shards of rubble mark graves
he doesn't understand,
bare footed boy, long shirt, cloth jacket
huge black eyes.
He doesn’t know which way to turn.
How could he?

Imagine
a future for this child —
Will someone gather him up?
Is there an uncle, or aunt
a grandmother or
cousin nearby?

Will his small hands make bricks,
press ridges in flat bread?
Will someone draw black circles
around his eyes
and laugh with him
until he sleeps?

Will he stumble
into a mine field
and explode?

Will he live to speak
about the graveyard universe
he stumbled through
as a small boy?
Can anyone understand
his pain?
Will anyone ever
understand it?

Imagine
a future for this child.

If I told you the world will not
be safe until this child’s
soul is healed,
would you believe me?

©Susan Bright, 2002. From the Layers of Our Seeing.

Susan Bright is the author of nineteen books of poetry. She is the editor of Plain View Press which since 1975 has published one-hundred-and-ninety books. Her work as a poet, publisher, activist and educator has taken her all over the United States and abroad. Her most recent book, The Layers of Our Seeing, is a collection of poetry, photographs and essays about peace done in collaboration with photographer Alan Pogue and Middle Eastern journalist, Muna Hamzeh.



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