Soon to be Dust July 2006

Much family movement – earlier than expected – thanks for the time though


Your story (040706)

The day had come
Unequivocally.
Its time to move
To a new home.

The house is not safe -
Unbending …
In its memory of
Your once eternal footprint.

Soon to be dust
Swept across the earth
That histories tread

Your story read
By sunsets going down
Across the hills
Horizoned on the edge
Of summer in the mind.

I’m now afraid to find
What is no longer there
Like Buddhas
Blown from the face
of limestone cliffs.

Gone but not forgotten.


Real Blood (05Jul06)

Real casualties today
In downtown Kabul

Not like those
Extemporaneous manifestations
Of pain on the
World Cup pitch

Real blood
Families hurt
And fear seeping in
That doors are closing

While far away you talk of
“going to prison”
with almost none of that emotion
I have grown to fear
But want to hear
That sign of life
Of resistance
Of will

Still …
Its your life to live
And I can only
speculate the final chapters
that are coming
to an end

These local sparks
That patriotic hearts inspire
Will burn beyond
The funeral pyre.


Had dreams (07Jul06)

She had dreams –
For her seven children –
maybe even for her self.
A career perhaps,
or more modestly
A stimulated curiosity
about the world.

Destroyed by the
trash can bomb
in the Herat University classroom.

You had dreams –
and here we are -
your children
and family and friends
warm Ottawa river sunsets
to enshrine us all.

Though we humans fall

Though we fear the end
It’s coming –
With the call

To carry on
To dream along
Beside the fear.

That’s really “here”.


Blurst (08Jul06)

I left to write another poem
To circulate some inspiration
Oxygenate some goings on.

You left to find another home
More pliant to your needs
And let us breathe more freely

Will we then
each
Be still?

Or remain blessed/cursed
With an itch
And a heartbeat

Accept the history
We have walked
There are retread treasures

In the wings

Though nothing sings
Nor shines forever
We’re still compelled
To voice a face

Our choice of place
Or humble rhyme
Will leave
its mark when
given time.

Some day (11jul06)

Some day soon
they are going to come
And get us
Years or months
Or maybe just days
Away.
Play as we will
At educational reform
And sustainable society
There are too many
External forces
Gathering strength

Some day soon
It is going to come
And get us
You and me
But you first as
The years tick
And the senses betray
Away
With reason
We can only hope
To make enough sense
Not to embarrass ourselves
Too badly.

Sadly destiny prevails
Sometimes read
Sometimes surprised
But really only the naïve
Are caught pants down
How naked nations stand
Manned – peopled –
By simple desires
For bread and beds
And better things
For future generations that
Might prevail

Or fail
or fall trying


Deceptively Warm (14jul06)

The morning’s sun warmth
is appreciated today
But don’t be deceived
Winter is not imminent
Stay prepared for the heat

The garden is verdant
With atmosphere
But is it clear
How ungreen is the political promise
Keep your uniform neat

Buena Vista Social Club tames the air
Why don’t we dance
But watch your step
As more Pash tunes
Dictate the beat

The pool imagines flesh
A chance of sin
But don’t get swept
Your can’t run off
Without your feet.


The voice (18jul06)

Like a child
You hear the voice
Of a new friend
And eagerly track it down

Or lose your laundry
“some old jeans”
to a phantom in the hall

you want a bedspread
that matches the wallpaper
but doesn’t show the dirt

to be

like a child
you read the security warnings
of travel risk in every province
outside Kabul
and yet feel safe
within this city

or see the recent dearth
of Sunday shoppers
and ignore the
resurgent dogmatic oppression
which harkens the Taliban return

you circulate among
the Kashnillovs and the HumVees
blind to the armed population
they are protecting

to be

like a child
to hear the voice.


Almost familiar (20jul06)

We have a kitchen now –
You can come on in
To mine.

Find it almost
familiar.

In a reaffirming –
kinda
– way.

Play –
That we have a kitchen now
- at cuisinary things
on Fridays
it’s the cooks
day
off.

“!Cau…ffee” starts
the universal flow
of reason to the mind

The signs
are favourable
for the moment.

Check one last time –
“are you sure you don't
recognize
yourself?”

Don’t forget
to kiss
a man
today.

find it almost
familiar -
kinda
- reassuring

Exclude the MK47s
From the pictures
That you paint.
Fantasize
The feelings
that you
take

for granted sake
of hope
that springs
eternably around.
Leave the ground
you walked on
and start
to fly.

Skies
over Pakistan
warn storms.
Bamyian magic
perseverance
gives hope ...
a warm
and fuzzy
blind.

Find it
Almost
Familiar


While thinking (29jul06)
During a pensive week ...

two former World Vision colleagues
are murdered leaving their health clinic
outside Chagcharan City in Ghor…

the west is increasingly vulnerable.

the head of the security company
we are about to contract
dies in a helicopter crash in Khost …

"bad weather" may be
the politically correct diagnosis.

less than a month until home leave ...

the much needed reconnection
to friends and family …

the feared last days
in my mom's wonderful ottawa river sunset condo

I’m doing
A pensive week.

copyright 2006 Peter Gillies