Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series ‘Coming home’ entitled ‘as the name implies’

 

Hakphaang,

 

 

I guess nobody knows

Or cares why I take up my pen

 

Remember

Euay Dara[1] and Bounthanong[2] once asked me

If I still write

 

Many of a writer

Once left the country

Left their pen behind

Would I be the same?

 

Tempting as it may be

For time is money abroad

Distraction is luring you

At every corner

 

No less significant

The language you are familiar with

Virtually no one could read

Could understand

 

Why then write?

 

I told them

I still write in a language

Sometimes strange to my ears

What did I write then?

 

2 stages 2 mindsets

 

Back in Laos

As my pen name Satjadham[3]

Gave a hint

I wrote about the qualities

Preferred in human beings

The truth that never dies

 

Now in the U.S.

I am writing about Muang Lao

What she used to be

What she is capable of

Herewith is the name of LanXang

Her olden name

 

As I grow older

The pendulum is swinging back

Not Satjadham in itself

But Satjadham with LanXang

A harder task

A grander vision

 

How much I can accomplish

Only time will tell

 

10.1.03