They run amok
These unwashed ragamuffins
My mother would say
But they are happy
These unwashed ragamuffins
My mother would say
But they are happy
Happy and curious
Enthralled with
The foreigner
And his camera
Unattended
In masses
Or twos or threes
Or alone
With the run of the city
They gather and cavort
In the urban streets
On the sidewalks
Wherever there is space
To play
To laugh, and to giggle
To learn and get dirty
These children of Kashgar
Kashgar, China
Taken during travels, 1998