When the despised one writes
of his childhood in Pakistan—remembering his father
home from his work in a faraway land,
cooking cumin-scented rice and sweetened lamb,
then scooping with his fingers, portions
into his son’s mouth, he is offering us
his father’s full humanity which birthed his own.

I know my tax money helped pay for this man’s torture
by my fellow countrymen.
What can I offer him?  What can I offer them?

What can I offer you?
That will help restore the balance broken
in our hurt and fear, so healing,
love and respect
can flow between us all?
                                      10/31/2021

*https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/mansoor-adayfi/dont-forget-us-here/9780306923876/ “Mansour Adayfi’s memoir Don’t Forget Us Here tells two coming-of-age stories in parallel: a makeshift island outpost becoming the world’s most notorious prison and an innocent young man emerging from its darkness.”

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansur_Ahmad_Saad_al-Dayfi