Sabaydii,

 

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

 

Hakphaang,

 

 

Seeing the post office again

I remember dropping by a lot

When dad was still there

 

The position he held

Was far less than he deserved

A head of a small office

Not even the department

 

His onetime subordinate at Xiengkhouang[1]

Long resident in Vientiane

Now the head of the department

His superior

What a twist of fate

 

So when he left

The line of job

He was laboring for over 3 decades

With too many medals to count

I wasn’t sad

And so when he left the country

All the good life would be

Waiting for him in the U.S.

 

Less than a year

He took off for the foreign land

A land he never thought of

Spending the rest of his life there

He passed away

 

With his last word

Am I here yet?

Go get me something to eat

 

With my hands trembling

I broke down

Letting the tears flow down my cheeks

Never again will I see my dad

A man his whole life for his family

His work and his country

 

Looking at the post office again

I remember

At that very moment

With the telegram in my hand

I turned my back to the path I took

The path that took me away from my family

My happiness and my true being

 

Never again will I be half Lao

Half whole

This land just isn’t for me any more

 

If this is my fate to bury my face in other land

Let it me

 

 

9.30.03