poem
Volume 37, Number 4

Paper Planes

Look
         our leaders are des
                                         cending from their war
torn planes.  They are entering white grand buildings
behind which we imagine
                                          are round stone tables
over which they are crouching
                                                 looking each other in the eye.

Look
        at their contempt,
                                     the glass windows
reflecting sunlight beams which spl
                                                         it into
an array of colors, dispersing over their heads.

Look
        at our crumpled hopes,           high
                                              flying          in
the sky, unfathomable,
                                     unreachable
                                                         because our
leaders stare at each other,
                                           mounting their own
war planes, while our children's
                                  paper planes loop
below and
                crash on heaps of
                                             ash.


—Abdullah Bin Imran