Classic Poem

He sits in the corner,
writes, as the naked woman
mingles with the nightclub's patrons,
auctions off her beauty.
She asks him how the war is going,
and he answers:
" You needn't worry about the treasures of your body,
our country's enemy
is just like us,
he circumcises males and loves foreign
imports, just like us, he hates pork
and pays for guns and hookers. "
She cries.
He sits in the corner
as the naked woman passes.
He invites her to his table.
She can't stay for long, she says:
since morning she's been combing army
hospitals, searching for her brother,
whose unit was encircled
across the Suez (The land
returns, her brother doesn't ...)
She tells him she has had to earn
the bread in her brother's absence,
how she will wear again her modest clothes
when he gets back.
She shows his picture with his children
on a holiday.