Monday, March 01, 2010

New Year in Laos

Time has no will.Leave it alone,and it is slow,

Executing nothing, never starting or finishing anything,

Incessantly shapechanging, becoming something other,

For no reason or purpose , no deadline at all

It is the theatre of the shadow puppets,

The Sanskrit verses of the sea.

Landlocked souls yearn for that wild shore.



On the wall reliefs of a wat.

Gold dancing lovers embrace, fingers curled

Into mudras, faces blissful,oblivious,eyes closed,

Stupa-helmets antennae angled to the gods,

Thirty-two guardian spirits within.

I could stare forever into a Buddha’s face,

His skull becoming mine.



A ball of sticky rice in the hand:

Civilisation’s last word. A fat happy syllable.

I climb the naga steps of the temple,

Lifted by the garuda-winged eaves.

April full moon’s waters want to drown you

In memory,wash you up on some shore

Where life can begin anew.

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