My teenage daughter
worked her way
through the mass of humanity
towards the front of the stage
to hear her favorite band.

I sat in the back
checking my messages,
“Terrorist kill
a hundred and nineteen
in Parisian
music hall.”

Paris is over three thousand miles
from Hartford,
but I wondered
would I risk my life
rushing towards the danger
to save my daughter
or would I cower
seeking to save my own life?

Would I have stayed in Aleppo
hoping to outlast
the latest fighting
only to leave
my daughter
an orphan,
a refugee?

Would I have asked Allah
to lead her
to the safety
of a good Muslim family,
or maybe
even
to the protection of Christians
in the West?

Will I be the sort of person
willing to risk harm
that welcomes a stranger
here in Connecticut
fleeing from danger?

What sort of world
will I leave
for my daughter?