Photo courtesy of NBC News

Behind front doors

of friends and compatriots

in Port Au Prince, we listen

to evening prayers

 

and the silence of fear,

and observe the strength

of resistance against

the bush’s rules,

 

that the big cat eats

the little one, and

the woman is raped

if she walks

 

on the street alone,

that there are no

laws, prisons, police

stations, no markets,

 

no ministries. And abroad,

nobody’s moving fast

enough to save the country

from the fire. But truth

 

is always more complex.

Beyond the capital and

the Artibonite, a quiet,

hard-working country,

 

respectful of life and

property. And we ask,

why hell in Port-au-Prince?

Why the permanent crisis?

 

Why burn everything

the earthquake left standing?

And why do we lack

saints and visionaries?

 

And why the theft of

state property by elected

and non-elected leaders?

Why is this? I have no

 

answers my friends. I am

only a seller of questions.