The Black Virgin Mountain, viewed from Trai Trang Sup
Oh, Vietnam
Why?
after all these years
am I so addicted to you?
Why do I love your memory: mountains and ridges, and robed monks
bowing to the Buddha morning?
Buses loaded with morning people and market wares!
The sky that smiled upon all the deception and lost dreams.
The days of AK's and M-16's!
Why do I love the mighty Mekong;
...........the Black Virgin rising above the floor of you!
The smell of lost dreams and incense at midnight.?
Why do I love the memory of my brothers faces...sleeping.
Why did you seduce me with your curved body
lying beside the South China Sea?
Why? Oh Vietnam,
can I not stop ........loving you?
The seed of the Lotus
burns within.
©2/18/03 Lou Klaiber
Caliber/RC
David Alexander has written a response to this poem:
Oh, Soldier of Vietnam
It is not I to whom you are addicted
To love the beauty of my land and mountains and my people,
…The markets the ancient transportation.
Once my sun smiled upon you while you were young and impressionable,
...While at night your dreams were of home.
Your days of weapons and fighting are done
You must continue to live the life you have begun.
The incense of night is replaced now by a loved one’s perfume.
...Oh, if I could seduce you back to those days of yesteryear
The love you perceive of me is but a farce,
...You must now remember fond things of your lost friends
And, yes, the seeds of the Lotus do still burn,
...But not for you. Sleep well my friend.
© David R. Alexander
February 18, 2003
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