Reconstruction

Bit By Bit, Afghanistan Rebuilds Buddhist Statues

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/27/137304363/bit-by-bit-afghanistan-rebuilds-buddhist-

Towering Buddhas

Of stone and sand

In Bamiyan

Exploded to ash and earth

By Taliban.

Slowly, shard by shard,

Immense Buddhas

Are patched together

I wonder if the pieces,

Shattered splinters,

And vacant places Buddha once presided,

Speak a greater truth.

If only muscle and bone,

Limbs and lives,

Could be rebuilt.

A nation exploded

To rubble and ruin

Who will cobble it together?