2002
Fifteen miles into Burma
Hot
Dry
Dusty
An illegal entry
On a 250cc ATX Honda.
Stop at a A Lao village
On a nameless dirt road
Surrounded by eternal opium fields.
Children gawking at the falang
An old white man in black
Two men with AK47s.
Watch From a bar.
Thinking DEA.
Two beers buy a smile.
Almost cold.
We clink glass.
A toast
Chai yo.
Drink
Ahead to the west
Rows of dragon backed ridges
Offering
The urge to go
To ride through Burma
To Victoria’s Peak.
Then the Himalayas
Tibet
Nepal
India
All the way to Paris.
A full tank
Cash in my pocket
Time on my hands.
I finish the beer.
Rev the engine.
Do not shift into first.
Behind me
Back in Mai Sai
A room on the river.
None of my possessions
Worth anything
There.
Here a bike, a passport, money, and the clothes on my back.
Back in Mai Sai
Aphinya
My friend
If I go
She will wonder where I went
Kwam-luklab
A mystery.
I have said
The L word
Chan lak ter
I love you
To Aphinya.
The 250 says
Go
The mountains say
Come.
The Lao kids look at me
Laugh
“Nawh.”
Fool
Ching Ching
They right
I turn around
To Mai Sai
To Aphinya
By the river
Away from Burma
The Himalayas
Paris.
That road will be there
Forever
Always there
For another day
Some time.