For You
 By Chath pierSath

 For you a smile of rose
 my hand touching your face
 your radiance is among the dignified
 you are the Cambodia I seek for my soul
 my name carries you, my eternal flame
 my birth in you is where I shall soar free
 in me you are my beauty
 I am dark, made of clay
 my peasant skin I inherited proudly
 I am beautiful as you are my land
 earth and sky, these rice fields we take for granted
 the laboring faces of those who feed you with their hands
 no matter where I will be or go,
 I carry you inside of me through death,
 palm to palm, the sweetness of your smile
 your rise with the sun, your slumber peace
 in my arms I cradle you, my Cambodia as my best of kin
 I dream of you when I sleep, I weep sometimes when I drive
 on foreign roads, bumper to bumper with strangers
 who want to wish me away, and I would go on,
 with you in my life, a witness to your charms and
 cruelty, my mother's scream as you spilled her children's blood.
 My father's gone, and I will never know how it feels
 to man a future full of faith and optimism
 but to give up now would be foolish
 because I see so much beauty in your eyes
 and I keep wanting more of you in my tongue,
 the juice of your fruit, the sight of your frail morning,
 your rainbow sky, my life in your return to peace once more.

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