The Children

The children are not ours
but the child they might have been
     is in their eyes.
The children live in camps
but the freedom they have seen
     is in their eyes.

The children wear boleros,
beads and kaftans, tribal
     paint and feathers,
sandals in the snow and hejab
as white as snow whose sheen
     is in their eyes.

The children stand with younger
children on their hips,
     in their arms. 
Like animals at grass,
stopping in a day's routine
     is in their eyes.

The children hold belongings −
pens and notebooks, blankets,
     shoes and saucepans;
their fingers tell us stories
and what these stories mean
     is in their eyes.

The children are not ours
but you, Salgado, have brought them
     this close, this far.
I stand within a hand's-breadth
and the world that lies between
     is in their eyes.