Did the people of Viet Nam <br />use lanterns of stone? <br />Did they hold ceremonies <br />to reverence the opening of buds? <br />Were they inclined to quiet laughter? <br />Did they use bone and ivory, <br />jade and silver, for ornament? <br />Had they an epic poem? <br />Did they distinguish between speech and singing? <br /> <br />Sir, their light hearts turned to stone. <br />It is not remembered whether in gardens <br />stone gardens illumined pleasant ways. <br />Perhaps they gathered once to delight in blossom, <br />but after their children were killed <br />there were no more buds. <br />Sir, laughter is bitter to the burned mouth. <br />A dream ago, perhaps. Ornament is for joy. <br />All the bones were charred. <br />it is not remembered. Remember, <br />most were peasants; their life <br />was in rice and bamboo. <br />When peaceful clouds were reflected in the paddies <br />and the water buffalo stepped surely along terraces, <br />maybe fathers told their sons old tales. <br />When bombs smashed those mirrors <br />there was time only to scream. <br />There is an echo yet <br />of their speech which was like a song. <br />It was reported their singing resembled <br />the flight of moths in moonlight. <br />Who can say? It is silent now.<br /><br />Denise Levertov<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-were-they-like/
