Ha Giang Loop

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I wait for the rain to stop
Donning enough plastic to clog a small stream
Tighten ropes over my bags 
Watching the coffee drip
Each drop slower than the last
Not a country where things are done fast


A snake laid an ever-winding path for me to follow
Over the border the dragon
Leading me on 
Breathing harder
As shear drops gather
A sacrifice here
Gravestone,
A mannequin that used to be a man
Surrounded by plastic flowers
Perched on a rock wall for all to see
Someone who didn’t survive the journey


Erie Mists enclose
In clouds fine tears
Cliffs lean down
Lurching
Pushing me towards the precipice
In this day 
I will see
Mountain passes in rain
Streams and waterfalls under sun
A pig in its last cry, almost human
being dressed for a wedding feast
Laid out between the showers.
An old woman with a wood load
As big as a house
Her daughter only 3 next to her
With a cos lettuce tied to her back
Smiles abundant
Small steps cut into steep slopes
So the little gods
Can make their way up.


I will see a sky path 
That reaches over clouds
A sculpture of strength
Selling the politics of another era
The greenest of rice fields
The power of natures will
By night as I lay down to rest
All that strength and power 
Will ebb with me in my dreams
Glad to have survived the journey
Apart from the smiles abundant
Most of all 
I hear a sound
A memory
last cry of a squealing pig
Maybe tomorrow
I will turn vegetarian

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