Today for the first time
in what has been
almost a year
I have no poem
nothing to write that matches
the anger and the grief I feel
hearing the news from Afghanistan
where after years
of offering at least some protection
for the country's journalists
civil rights activists
political and military allies
supporters of democracy
teachers, interpreters
and above all for the women of Afghanistan
their right to education
freedom to dress themselves
as they saw fit
their right to equal treatment under law
all this
and all these friends and fellow fighters
for a new order in a war-torn land
we Americans have now abandoned
to the Taliban
whose goal is to bring back
the medieval rule of sharia
already they are killing women for their dress
killing teachers, lawyers, jounalists
and as their fighters take the country's cities
I ask how is it that we lacked the will
to see the thing we started
through to some semblance
of stability
shame on America!
we've even failed to rescue
those whose lives are at risk
for working with us
shame I say
shame on us!