Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series ‘Coming home’ entitled ‘Searching for the book’

 

Hakphaang,

 

 

Euay Mayoury told me

A year before

Dongdok University[1] held a seminar on Chao Anou[2]

And at the end of the event

Came up with a summary

I might be interested in

 

 

With Ky’s relatives

A Satjadham[3] member

They took me on their scooter

To the teacher school

 

Hard to believe

Driving a scooter in Vientiane street

Was more dangerous

Than anything I knew

Many swerving

Many cutting in front

As if no traffic law would apply

 

On the way to Dongdok

Passing through LanXang Avenue

Full of cars

Tuktuk[4] bicycles

Pickups and of course scooters

A new fad in Laos

 

Then onto Dongdok road

Before quite a deserted place

Now lining up with new houses

Almost all the way

 

As soon as my eyes laid

On the vast campus

Now called the National University

Many cherishing memories triggered in

 

 

My sister once studied here

Visiting her often

Was what I did

More importantly

I was bewitched by Dongdok students

Charming than life itself

 

One time

I stayed overnight there

With only a light jacket

Shielding me from the cold wind

All night long

 

If only the girl I loved

Was at my side

This moonless night

Wouldn’t be that cold

That shivering

 

Here I was back

Would she be there?

Or another moonless night

Was waiting for me?

 

Once my feet down

I strolled around the campus

Alive with new buildings

Shining with red roofs

 

After all

This was the first week of the school year

Hope was still high

And dream was still fresh

 

Would these ever last long

Like Dongdok itself?

 

At the school library

Brand new I guess

 

I saw one young girl

With her eyes fixed on the book

A few more browsing

Through the racks of magazines

 

 

Apart from those

The library was quite lonely

And eerily silent

With only the shelves of books

Few as they were

Staring back at me

 

It was said

Lao university students read

Only a few books a year

 

Seeing for myself

How scarce books were

And how disinterested

Some students seemed

 

It wasn’t a surprise

For me anymore

 

Walking out of the library

Veering to the English department

Where the classes were still going on

 

 

A white skinned professor

With an Australian accent

Sitting in her desk

While a young girl

Stood in front of the class

Reading her composed essay

 

Maybe

Because of her soft voice

Or the unfamiliarity of her English

I couldn’t make out

What she was trying to convey

 

Whatever it was

She and her classmates

Were on the right track

As English became a precious commodity

With the mushrooming of the NGO activities

In the slowly emerging Laos

 

Not to be sidetracked

I moved on to the history department

Hoping to find

The book close to my heart

 

With some luck

Or my fate with Chao Anou himself

They had it

Though of a last copy

 

The head of the department

Dr. something a graduate from Vietnam

Was kind enough

To part it with me

 

Hope she found a way

To replace the copy

I now have

 

With the book in my hand

I moved on to look for

A woman I never forget

20 years since I first met

 

Would she still be here?

Or did she disappear with time

As many things close to my heart

Forever gone?

 

9.10.03