"Kampuchea".

(Kampuchea is how the Khmer spell Cambodia in their transliteration system.)

I wrote this poem back in April and read it again tonight as I have been working on my paper.

Kampuchea, calm this pulse
Calm the shakes and the shocks
And the coughs from your orange dust

Kampuchea, cover me
Darken me
And change me
Into someone different
And in the journey of discovering this difference
Let me hear you and what you have to say

Kampuchea, unclothe my ignorance
As I sweat in the heat of your days
Carry me along in your brokenness
In the whispers of your smallest ones
(Especially in your smallest ones)
For they cry in their silence

Kampuchea, do you see?
Do you see your earth is dry and cracked?
Your people hungry and poor?
Will your tears fill your land?
Will you feed your people and teach them hope?
Will you heal them?
Will you believe in the strength you possess
To rise above the ashes of your slaughtered ones?

07 April 2008