When I Worked for the Peace Corps

More important to carry than lift - my
hands full of pounds, Libya on my
shoulder. I'm holding up the dusk.
A five hundred mile shuffle. There's a giraffe
carved into that mountain, and a shaman
or a guy with a stick.
Rome was here.
One
legion held this place for hundreds of
years. I didn't see Leptis Magna.
There was a lot of history.

But mostly it was hot and the locals
stood around watching us dig their well
(which they let sand fill in two weeks) with
no electricity no women and date wine
with fucking chunks in it. Eight
weeks in the Maghreb. Two weeks in
hospital with fever. Most everything stolen.
Every kid wants your watch and pen.

Makes you wonder how
Rome did it. That's the thing
about history. The further in time the
longer from possible.