I Would Swear It If I Believed.

He turns away, he meant it, not to kill her but to strike
To regain that cultural sense of manhood that
says men are never beaten by their wives.
He isn't crying.
He meant to do it.

He doesn't understand that magic must be given away

Stigmata, he thinks. He can still smell the oranges.
He thinks, I have never eaten oranges in Jalalabad.
that era's gone; he thinks, We grow in one direction only.