Alone

She was Muslim
that was not her misfortune
a piece of place and birth and time
married at first blood
her wedding night rapist
five years her father’s senior
put her with child
one week before, to the day,
her twelfth birthday
she bore her husband a son
well pleased
the nightly mauling returned
persistent, mechanical and dry
by nearly sixteen
her second daughter was born
as the American brung war
went on uninvited
it came anyway to the celebration
the cluster bomb tore them all apart
her mother and father,
the former holding newborn Ai’isha,
grandparents, husband, children
she alone in the wreckage alive
burnt, mutilated right arm & leg
saved, nursed, made whole
except for the aforementioned arm and leg
those were gone with her face
with her son, daughters, folks
even her loyally devoted rapist
on top of it all
she missed her sweet sixteenth
in some cultures
they consider that when you become a woman
that would have been fun on that day
to pretend, but it was gone now
like her arm, like Muhammad, like her mama
etcetera…
orphan, widow, amputee and
whatever you call it when your kids are dead
alone
maybe that’s the word
alone