Her long silk hair
Descended over her shoulders and back
She rested on the river bank
Behind her house
And as she bent over to look
At a lotus flower floating in the stream
Her hair fell into her face
She cocked her head to one side
And lightly, she brushed the smooth locks
Behind her ear with her
Delicate fingers. Her virginal white
Ao dai wrapped snugly around her chest
Flowed loosely around her legs
A gentle blend of
Sultry and coy
Her servant brought her a glass of lemonade
With a lemon wedge on the side
"Cam ong, chi," the girl said and smiled
And she sipped the sweet nectar
Behind her, her sisters
Played and laughed
Suddenly,
A familiar roar
Seared her home
Turned their laughter
To terror
And the girl
Closed her eyes and
Clasped her hands
Over her ears to muffle
The distant
Explosions
She opens her eyes
To watch large white flakes
Settle upon the sidewalk
And the tan Honda Accord
Parked on the street.
Regis and Kathy Lee chatter
In the background
About GwynethÕs Oscar.
She sips hot tea
From a ceramic mug
That reads "40 is Fabulous,"
And she bends over to pick up
A copy of Newsweek
Lying on the floor
Next to the stack of anniversary cards
She has saved.
Her hair is short now
So she doesnÕt need to brush it
Back with her fingers.
She reads in peace and solitude.
Your silence is loud
The untold stories
I can see them in your eyes
Delicate beauty
Fading youth
Your skin
Not so taut
Your touch
Softer
Piercing eyes
And sunken lids scream
The pain of dreams unfulfilled
You softly stare at the man on the mantle
Whose stern visage
Sits adjacent to his smiling wifeÕs
Her flesh now wrinkled
The smile is crooked
His proud face
Never saw you as a woman
Brutally murdered in a mass grave
Rounded up like cattle
Prodded and shoved before the final blast
Only a fragment of tangled and bloody limbs
No words are said
I see this vision
Like a portal to the past
You are him
I am you
I am him