Beyond Damascus

Court upholds St Paul’s eviction

Financial Times, 22 February 2012

Beyond Damascus

an ideological fissure sprang

from the Vatican to Karachi

over swaying Afghan

opium pastures, whose legacy

became a looking-glass prophecy;

there were two opposing

versions of the same litany:

they might just have been inept

translations of the divine;

and young Americans

arrived at Bagram fresh

meat from Fort Worth, Texas,

their minds on homecoming

queens until time alone

fortified them with wisdom

to distinguish dates from figs;

but there are no trees outside

the gates of Bagram, Saul,

so think again before you turn.

(c) 2012 Slush Poet