The Horns of the Tiger By Qais Arsala January-March 2000 Lemar-Aftaab Straight-jacket memories Of those morphine flavored nights These tears of blood can almost sedate the scarred and maimed souls Desperate cries from the voiceless, forgotten children Are befallen upon deaf ears of blind savages who are disguised as Liberators Shrapnel hurricane turning a sage into a madman And a madman into a prophet I try to close my eyes to imagine a time where the delicate showperaks outnumbered the polished Russian rockets I try to imagine those days of the innocent kids playing "tushla" and danda kilak and chasing the gowzanboors off the streets of Kabul I try to reach for the untouchable To scream for what cannot be... Other work by Qais Arsala: Volcano (Jan.-March 1999) Copyright © 2000 Aftaabzad Publications. All Rights Reserved. May not be duplicated or distributed in any form without permission.