The words of a pashtun to a stranger !

Ah tired stranger!
You came over night, and
I still haven’t got the ceiling fan and summer clothes
Or cold water to entertain you
Or a chair
where you can rest
Or a bed
where you can take a nap!
And what more to tell you of my children:
I have six children, one arrived yesterday.
They cry and yell
to a background noise
of beeps and drones while they are fast asleep!
So I don’t know, how would they say hi to you
Or embrace
your indifference with their Pashtun hearts
Or how would they hand in ice cream to you?
But yes stranger
I have dreams and imaginations, the only asset
of me and my children, with whom
I can entertain you
only
if the drones don’t take those away from me!
So wait outside the door, until
I tidy up my empty house and grieving heart!


Farid Gul, London, 24 June 2010