No tags yet.
Here's a little something different for you today.
I started to write a one-year-in-Cambodia reflection post, but I wasn't really feeling it. In lieu of that, I decided that I wanted to write a poem, completely unrelated to the PC milestone.
I haven't written a poem since elementary school, but after reading some Rupi Kaur poetry recently, I was feeling inspired by her simple and accessible prose style.
To give some context for this poem, I was moved to write this after I saw my host family cut down a very large, beautiful tree in our front yard because it was a potential hazard that could interfere with the electrical wire.
This poem encompasses some recent Cambodian history. For those unfamiliar, I will give a quick, very rudimentary timeline: Until 1953, Cambodia was under French rule. After gaining independence, Cambodia was quite prosperous until it started to become unwillingly involved in the Vietnam war. America and other players in the war dropped millions of bombs in Cambodia in order to target the areas that were supposedly supporting and hiding Vietnamese forces. Soon after, Cambodia became under control of the communist Khmer Rouge regime from 1974-1979, which resulted in a terrible genocide of an estimated one-fourth to to one-third of the Cambodian population. In 1979, the Vietnamese invaded and threw out the Khmer Rouge regime, but conflict continued until 1993 with the Paris Peace Accords. Recovery and development have been difficult and still continues to this day.
This poem also makes reference to the huge illegal logging trade in Cambodia. It is said that Cambodia has lost 70% of its forested areas since the Khmer Rouge period - a period of 40 years. Cambodian people are only now beginning to gain awareness of this significant environmental issue.
these trees have seen
one hundred years
of sunshine, nourishing from leaf to root
of rain, rain, and more rain, and then none at all
of wind, sometimes whispering to the leaves and other times screaming
of stars, quilting dark skies with a thick blanket of stars
one hundred years
of bustling mornings selling rice porridge and cakes and fish
of young schoolchildren shouldering their backpacks on their way to school
of new life emerging beneath the tin rooftops
of ancient blessings and vibrational chants
of humble beginnings and first, tottering steps
of sit-play and eat-play and walk-play and speak-play
of deep laughs and deeper love
of quiet satisfaction in a warm bowl of rice after a day of hard work
of simple smiles worth more than a thousand words
one hundred years
of parents’ tears and mourners’ farewells
of bravely smiling faces hiding pain from their children
of bombs flung from planes fighting for wars of far-off lands
of young, fresh men leaving home to ‘serve a higher cause’
of families, forcibly, irrevocably, irreparably separated
of children, learning to hold a gun before they learn to hold a lover
of neighbors’ betrayals made easy by a choice of survival or torture
of frail, starving bodies, barely able to hold a soul, let alone a shovel
of death looking a lot better than a living nightmare
of sobs and moans and wails
of dead quiet
one hundred years
of tender reunification
of gradual acceptance of loss and unknown
of a fragile, quiet peace
of rebuilding a home, a sanctuary, a community
of reluctant smiles, hiding a damaged generation
of scars that will never quite completely heal
of learning to forgive sisters and brothers
of humble beginnings
of new life emerging
of hard-earned successes
of love and laughter
of sun, and wind, and rain, and stars
these trees have seen one hundred years
how dare they cut them down without a second thought?
- the trees in Cambodia have seen it all
An ancient tree in Mondulkiri province on the Vietnam border, where illegal logging is taking place at one of the highest rates in the nation.
The central memorial and display at the Choeung Ek Genocide Center near the capitol of Phnom Penh. It contains 13 levels of anonymous skulls and other bones found in mass burial pits, a small percentage of those who were murdered at that site.
For more information on the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime, feel free to check out these sources:
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1879785,00.html
http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-history/khmer-rouge-history/
I would also highly recommend the book and movie First They Killed My Father for a firsthand narrative.
For resources about the illegal logging trade in Cambodia, check these here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/world/asia/cambodia-illegal-logging-ouch-leng.html
http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/cambodia-environment-economy-rainforest-deforestation-illegal-logging-development