I spoke their language | Lê Vĩnh Tài

On arrival
I spoke their language

acting as a witness to a shadow
the shadow of a different light
unseen by the human eye

I cried as the truth spurted from my lips
about the past of a future
and the future of a past
verbs no one could anymore
differentiate

I needed something as a cover for the poems
around the fire
burning
bodies not smoke
like clouds
I took a lend of the Sun’s wings
flew straight
into the chafing heat

you remembering only one Sun
the superstitious thoughts in the mind of the wind
hidden meaning in the light gave birth to scorpions
nonsense
as you look for the excuses
like how it was possible for us to survive
blah blah blah

I tried so hard to read the silence
like my mother’s tongue
the origin of a past
and the absence of those who had cold feet
on their wedding night

I perished so the dark
knows that day may turn into night
that the moment we forget is the moment we are free

and all shall view the dreams
my exhibition
my poem derived from wood

what I’m discerning
each time I open my eyes
a world on fire

and the Sun is a shadow that either follow or stand
at the border between dreams
and the truth of coal and ashes
of destruction and tombstones

where there’s a call for liberty
in the spirit of freedom
for
all