inside/outside

Inside the walls of my compound, the irises are blooming. I practice yoga in the basement exercise room, Skype via wireless internet. Our cook makes me a batch of rice and lentils flavored with apricots to eat on the nights when she makes meat for the others. We have juicy mangoes and melons from Pakistan. In the cool of the evening, we sit on the porch, drinking wine under the fairy lights. Our gatekeeper shuffles to the kitchen to wash up.

Outside the walls, it is dust and mud. At the same time. The silent beggar woman shrouded in a tattered burqa. Piles of trash being nibbles by herds of goats. A pack of wild dogs. Security guys sitting in swivel chairs, nonchalantly holding their guns. Wildflowers blooming atop high walls. My language teacher tells me about her miscarriage during the war, after nearly being hit by a rocket.