Arab Lands

Child in rags,
Leading the blind beggar,
Veiled women,
Eye-slits burning
With furtive agony,
Pleading for baksheesh
Or peddling pitiful wares,
Poverty and despair
Screaming in bright colors,
Palm trees, azure skies,
Land of dreamy beauty,
Peopled by the squalid,
Oasis of hope,
Dried up and buried
In the dunes of despair,
Land of snake charmers,
Water carriers,
And a million beggars,
Where feudalism rules
And time stands still.....

Alfred Charasz
Copyright 2005 Alfred Charasz