Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series of ‘Coming home’ entitled ‘First Arrival’

 

Hakphaang,

 

I first arrived

At the long forgotten land by bus

Crossing the Friendship bridge[1]

 

Like a déjà vu

I am back

At the very place I hurriedly left

-          the murky, yellowish Mekong river

 

 

slowly across the bridge

I saw the faraway land

Receding in distance

The thatched houses grew bigger

The voice from the radio grew louder

And finally

the fragrant smell of Dokchampa[2] grew closer

 

home

here I am

after 17 years of self-exile

hardly a minute gone by

I wasn’t thinking of this land

Grand as they were

Many places across the globe

I had visited

None was more gratifying

Than this land

The land of bare subsistence

Where a wide stretch of land

Remain uncultivated

Where the tallest building

Was no more than 7 stories high

And where the roads were replete with potholes

More than the surface of the moon itself

 

Still I love this land

More than any words can convey

What about this land?

Does she love me back?

Does she extend her generous hand to me?

Or am I just one of the nameless many

Forgotten by time?

 

I don’t care

Let the sour-faced few

Look at me with distrust

Or even let the nameless many

I faced at Tha NaLeng[3]

A gateway to Vientiane[4]

Stared at me with bewilderment

Seemingly to ask

Why was I back?

What was for me here?

Didn’t I risk my life

Fleeing this land?

And didn’t I feel unwelcome

In this land in the first place?

 

 

I guess nobody can answer those questions

Better than this land herself

 

7.28.03