The Fundamentalist

I should have recognized
The tell-tale sign
Of a Muslim fundamentalist
By his beard,
But he seemed friendly,
So I engaged him
In conversation.
He spoke English
With a heavy Russian accent,
That made it obvious
He was not from
Here in Turkey.
It turned out he was
From Albania,
Having immigrated
To Turkey as a child.
He told me he was
A highway engineer,
And since I am also
An engineer,
I figured we might have
A lot in common.
As we got to talking,
I began to question
That initial assumption,
However.
My first clue that something
Was amiss
Was his overly bombastic
Style of speaking.
My second clue
Should have been
His frequent reference
To Allah and the Koran.
I tried to talk
About engineering
And he invariably
Switched to religion.
I attempted to discuss
The economy
And how it was affecting
The people of Turkey,
And he proclaimed
That it was all because
The majority of Turks
Were not good Muslims.
In a torrent of words
He told me
In great detail
How he lived
By the teachings
Of the Koran,
How his way was the only
Right way to live,
That everyone else
Was going to hell.
All I knew was that I couldn’t
Escape fast enough
From a guy who was
So obviously
Seething in condemnation
And loathing
For the world
In which he lived.