Somewhere Else

Somewhere else, a man pays a genocidal militia to shoot his wife
rather than hack her to death with a machete.

This is a small act of humanity,
like holding the door in an elevator
or starting a fresh pot of coffee when you've had the last cup.

Later that man becomes an interpreter,
translating for western journalists the words of the same terrorists.
He searches for the faces of his wife's killers,
but those faces are everywhere.

Alone at night,
that man waits to die,
just as we all do.