IMAGINE

(Written in 1989 by Thavrith Bunkasem)

Working from morning till night

Not enough food to eat

Physical

Destitute

Walking, the only means of transportation,

In the sands,                                                                                                

On the rocks,

Across the meadows,

Through the minefield,

Barefooted,

Dehydrated,

Exhausted,

 

Imagine

Being taken away from the family,

Young,

Innocent,

Tearful,

Mother--

Speechless,

Helpless,

Defenseless,

Paralysed.

 

Imagine

Men killing men,

For ration of food

Or for no reason

No consideration

No guilt

No sorrow

No sympathy

Tears

Civility

Humility

Raison d'êtres

 

Imagine

Eating trees

Leaves

Grasses

Wild fruits

Lizards

Bugs

Insects

And following birds' and

Animals' footsteps

The sky as the only roof,

Trees, rocks, caves, and bushes...

Hideouts

 

Imagine

No school, no pencil, no paper

no teacher but only the master

and the whips

 

Living in an island country

surrounded by  barbed wires

of ideology and fenced by mines,

gun points, and execution

 

Being born under the sun,

the rain, the storm

No midwife

No friends around

Husband's out to battlefields

 

Being born in the storm,

The thunder, and the winds

Of war hearing the sounds

Of drums, the whistles and the

Revolutionary songs of the

Invisible shells and

Desperate bullets spinning up

In the air toward you,

Away from you, near you.

 

"Thanks, Buddha," sigh of relief

For those lucky souls who just missed the bullets

Ouch! the moaning and the groaning

Of the wounded and the amputees crying,

"Help!, help!, pleeeezee..."

 

Now I have seen the wounded,

The sight, the most unpleasant sight

The sight of the wounded and

The displaced children crying innocence

In the midst of the war scene

 

The wounded crying out

The sad songs of war,

The sad songs of pain and agony,

And the songs of relief...

 

They had seen enough enough of this world,

The time is worth dying

So cruel, so ruthless.

 

Every lost child screams for their parents,

their loved ones---screams for help

Every lost mother screams for her lost children

 

Everybody prayed for miracles

Miracles!

Miracles, that's what everybody needs

In time of danger

 

Imagine

Seeing the dead and the dying,

The motherless, crying, hungry child

Seeing the innocent,

Playful baby crawling

Over its dead mother,

Who just died of exhaustion

By the side of the path-to-be,

Trying to breastfeed itself

Amidst the dangerous, helpless,

Lonely jungle

 

 

 

Imagine

Seeing the thieves ripping

Jewelries off their captives,

Undressing their prey

And performing their rituals...

 

Living life on the raft

of the refugees floating

on the tides of uncertainty

to search for the island of peace

 

Being in the camp barbed wired

And guarded by soldiers, and expected

To enjoy "your own little world"

For you are refugees waiting for "gods"

to take you away to paradise?

 

Life in a bottle...

 

Your own little world---

 

Waking up in the morning

knowing that today would not be

any different from yesterday,

would not be any different from tomorrow

 

Looking at the same thatched huts

built like barracks

 

Walking aimlessly on the same dusty road

Seeing kids your age play

Fighting with their peers, some are naked,

Some are half-naked,

Girls playing traditional games

With their friends and their siblings

 

Hearing screams and cries

Of the woman/her husband arguing

About their family

Problems---

Extramarital affair?

Not enough food to eat?

Gambling?

?

?

 

Overhearing neighbors fighting

and arguing over rations of water and food

The laughs

The swapping of tales

Politics---in the camp

 

Imagine

Being in the "Third Country"

You don't speak the native language

You look different

And you even smell different.

 

You are used to your own food

Your way of eating---with your fingers

Ah taste sooo gooooood

 

Imagine

Being born under the golden roof

With the golden spoon in your mouth

Living life in luxury

 

Everything you want---you have

Everything you wish for---comes like magic

Growing up on piles of money

 

Having one car, two cars,

Three cars, and complaining

About five minutes walk,

 

Being frightened by little cockroaches

As if they were gigantic monsters

From Stephen King's movies

 

Imagine

Driving a Porche, A Ferrari, a Rolls Royces

Your ideal cars

 

Living in the beautiful mansion, villa, condo

Or your ideal home

 

 

In the beautiful mountain, river, park

Of your ideal place

Imagine your ideal heaven

Imagine

Just

Imagine

Works by Thavrith Bunkasem

1. A Child Worker of Angkar      2. Imagine     3.  Ah, c'est ça la vie!     4.  La première neige (The first  snow)   5. The Beauty of the Night     6.  Nicaragua    7.  La Revolution   8.  I'll be gone   9. The Tide of War

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