{"id":6654,"date":"2020-08-19T08:46:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T07:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/?p=6654"},"modified":"2020-09-04T10:20:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T09:20:31","slug":"the-way-of-these-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/the-way-of-these-times\/","title":{"rendered":"THE WAY OF THESE TIMES"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photograph: Helen Brown<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reunion in a guest house in Kabul.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Four years later you give me an Afghan carpet.<\/span>
\nHand made in Herat.<\/span>
\nRoll it out by the fern frost window and sip green tea<\/span>
\nand tell me of your daughters<\/span>
\nthe Way These Times<\/span>
\nhave foiled their paths to school.<\/span>
\nAnd now the year splutters through Buhare wood smoke<\/span>
\nand you say it is Hopeless.<\/span>
\nEven though the war is \u2018won\u2019 in the messianic<\/span>
\nlight of an embassy in Wazir<\/span>
\nand I nod and remember children<\/span>
\nplaying shrapnel lines and see<\/span>
\nthe Way These Times<\/span>
\nhave honed your face and cracked a tooth,<\/span>
\nand the shabby shalwar kameez<\/span>
\nand the worlds that bring us together again,<\/span>
\nin a guest house in Kabul, shift to silence.<\/span>
\nWe shake hands. I thank you for the carpet.<\/span>
\nThe steel gate divides your way back<\/span>
\nto the Hazara district – and my way out.<\/span>
\n\u2018See you again in a peaceful Afghanistan, inshallah.\u2019<\/span>
\nThe chokidor stamps his feet and slides the bolt.<\/span>
\nIt is snowing.<\/span>
\nBeyond the wall clouds obscure the mountains.<\/span>
\nI wonder if my plane will leave<\/span>
\nTomorrow.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
This poem was Long Listed for the National Poetry Competition 2020<\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n
\"\"<\/h5>\n
“I worked in Romania, then qualified as a social worker and have worked in China, Outer Mongolia, Canada, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Nepal and briefly in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea. That was with VSO, the French organisation Humanity and Inclusion, Relief International and the Red Cross.”\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reunion in a guest house in Kabul. Four years later you give me an Afghan carpet. Hand made in Herat. Roll it out by the fern frost window and sip green tea and tell me of your daughters the Way These Times have foiled their paths to school. And now the year splutters through Buhare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[511],"class_list":["post-6654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poety","category-the-arts","tag-helen-brown"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTHE WAY OF THESE TIMES - Many Roads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bodhicharya.org\/manyroads\/the-way-of-these-times\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"108\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-way-of-these-times\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-way-of-these-times\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"108\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b702436744d367c3b4e6ca9f727819fc\"},\"headline\":\"THE WAY OF THESE TIMES\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-19T07:46:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-04T09:20:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-way-of-these-times\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":255,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-way-of-these-times\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/files\\\/2020\\\/08\\\/Kabul-300x225.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Helen Brown\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Poetry\",\"The Arts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-way-of-these-times\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-way-of-these-times\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bodhicharya.org\\\/manyroads\\\/the-way-of-these-times\\\/\",\"name\":\"THE WAY OF THESE TIMES - 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Four years later you give me an Afghan carpet. Hand made in Herat. Roll it out by the fern frost window and sip green tea and tell me of your daughters the Way These Times have foiled their paths to school. 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