Sabaydii,

 

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

 

Hakphaang,

 

 

Going to some houses

Seeing the Thai king

Grandly displayed in the living room

My heart sank to the bottom

 

Can’t help to ask

Am I in Muang Lao

Or another provincial town of Thailand?

 

I know

Nobody could stop the Thai influence

Rushing in with its economic might

And cultural prowess

With years behind its bell

 

Still

This new Laos was supposed to be better

More Lao than of the old regime

 

 

What’s to do then?

Do we need our king back?

I don’t know

I am just a writer

Why don’t we let people to decide?

King or not

That’s not the issue

Coming to terms with our past is

 

It is time to give a proper burial

To our last king

A reconnection to the past

So that we can move forward as one

 

Yes weak as we may be now

But if we are one

Like the many strands of the bamboo

Strung together

We will wipe away

Any remnants of Thai influence in our land

 

Only this and this alone

Muang Lao will be truly Lao again

 

9.25.03