Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series ‘Coming home’ entitled ‘gone – a seed for the future’

 

Hakphaang,

 

 

No sooner

I reached the place

Where they burnt the corpses

Another memory was triggered in

 

A young man

Came down from SamNeua/Xiengkhouang[1]

To work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Anxious to learn everything

He was my good student

Studying English

My version of Lao history

So on and so forth

 

Yes once in a while

We ran across someone

So nice so lovable

We didn’t care what side of the fence

He was from

 

Then like anything good at Muang Lao

His life was cut short

When the big truck he rode on

Smashed into the tree

Taking his life with it

 

When informed of the news

I felt like I lost something

Very dear to my heart

 

Seeing his remains

Going up in flames

Brought nothing

But tears into my eyes

 

Gone was the seed

Of the new regime’s innocence

Humility and sincerity

 

Would I find another one like him again

In the new Laos?

 

Life

What’s left is but

A memory cherished in our hearts

 

9.29.03