On Reading Graham Greene's 'The Quiet American' Poem by Robert J Meyer

Pyle and Fowler
So civilized
Fighting over Phoung
And Vietnam
So quietly

Pyle offers her his world
White picket fence
Baseball games and picnics
He'd hide the grime and mayhem
He used to win her

Fowler is honest in his need
Naked loneliness is all he has
No wedding ring
No London Bridge nor Westminster
Just his ache and desire

Phoung was one taxi dance
From whoring more openly
She sold herself for safety
Her youth disguised her wantonness
Fowler knew but Pyle didn't

That was Greene's vision
But what if she were another –
Fatima rather than Phoung
And a desert rose, not an orchid –
Just fifty years later