Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series ‘Coming home’ entitled ‘Finding my old self’

 

Hakphaang,

 

 

At Wat Sisaket

Across the street from Wat Phakeo

I glanced back

At Chao Saysettha[1]’s temple

 

 

Even from a distance

The tall pillars

Supporting Wat Phakeo’s three tiered roof

Were strikingly imposing

 

Adding to the sliding magnificent roof

With the Xopha[2] and perching nagas[3]

Protecting the grand LanXang[4] temple

I came to see

What it meant to be Lao

At the height of this golden era

 

 

Admittedly

I was broiling with anger

When I was told

The Thai were going to renovate the place

Adding their glittering color

To our brownish grey

Wiping away our distinctively Lao style

 

May the like of Chao Souvanna Phouma[5]

Who restored Wat Phakeo to its present form

Helped keep the Thai dirty hands

From soiling what is ours and ours alone

 

Let them smear other temples

With their glittering wealth

But never over our sacred Wat Phakeo

Let this be Lao forever

 

 

Now at Chao Anou[6]’s temple

What a strange feeling

Being here

I for the first time

Felt like

I was at the presence of something

Greater than myself

Something of my bigger soul

 

At every step I took

I felt like

Something powerful was watching me

With great intensity

As if to say

Was I Lao enough

Or just a pretender

Ready to crumble

At the sight of danger?

 

 

When I looked at the Buddha statues

With some of their heads broken

I felt like I was thrust

Into an existence question

 

Was I satisfied

Leaving this land for a greener pasture?

As if I were but an ungrateful

 

 

Painful I was

To walk in this temple

Knowing full well

This was the last bastion of Lao defiance

 

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