Freedom of Sight

The woman peeked
through her prison of cloth
wondering what it would be like
to see the sunset
outside with her hair down.

A lifetime behind burkas,
freedom was a prayer
that Allah could not
seem to grant her,
and she willingly accepted.

The month of Ramadan
ensured her that
He would reward her someday,
and in death she could embrace
true exhaltation.

Faith stripped her of insight,
and though she felt the eyes of the world
upon her as her oppression grew
she was blessed with ignorance
for she did not understand.

Only when the Americans
came tromping through her city
did she began to realize that
one could watch the beauty
of the earth without a veil.

So she continued to pray,
that someday her
burka could be removed
and she too, could laugh
and cry in freedom.

Her children would go to school
and new possibilities would emerge.
So she sat outside sipping her chai
and watched the sunset
through covered eyes -

praying that one day
Allah would lift her soul
to the heavens above
and she would open her eyes
fully for the very first time.