Central Asia Slipped into My Heart

By Frances Wiedenhoeft

Central Asia slipped into my heart
sometimes when I wasn’t looking
at the horror

the still arid beauty
and brightly colored tribal clothing
almost hidden under burkas

in the starving face of every Taliban child soldier
I witnessed the determination of a people 
to do more than just survive

in a field or hospital tent
warrior’s blood flowed through my hands
from both sides of the struggle

fiercely dedicated 
to the mission
and art in their craft of conflict

not cold in frozen emotion
instead I saw
flaming blue heat

testament to
the fiery passion
of their conviction.

Could America burn through
this level of desperation
to plant hope and nurture dreams?

I return to the early morning quiet
back in the green wooded landscape
of my American home

but in a heartbeat I am back there
I inhale deep the burning dry air of summer

there is no way I will ever completely 
leave that place.

****

Frances Wiedenhoeft’s writing has appeared in Collateral Journal, Deadly Writers Patrol, the Adelaide Review, Veteran Voices, and others. She is a twenty-two-year Army veteran. She served with the 332nd EMDG, 1872nd Head and Neck Surgical Team, Balad Airbase Hospital, September 2003 to January 2008 in Iraq. She served with the 452nd CSH, Bagram Airbase Hospital in Afghanistan, and the 2nd General Hospital, Landstuhl, Germany, Operation Desert Storm.