Innocence
Knows no boundaries
Knows no hatreds
Knows no wars
But it is not all coy smiles
Happiness wrapped
In a best friend’s warm arms
Even the innocents
Know hunger
Even the innocents learn fear
I would wrap these two up
Protect them from such lessons
But mine is the world
They should learn
To fear
The world men made
The world men maintain
A world not made
For innocence
Two Uyghur Girls
Kashgar
Xinjiang Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China
Taken during travels, 1998