It’s been fifty five years since this car dropped off Thích Quảng Đức in downtown Saigon, and now it’s sitting right along the Perfume River at the Thien Mu pagoda in Hue ( second picture, I took)

 

I took a boat trip to Thien Mu
in the ward of Hương Long in Huế,
to see a celestial lady.

The boat was run by a mother
and daughter, who offered me tea
and smiles that wanted us all.

Inside it was quite,
just the engine of the boat,
wet and gutted.
Another failed lung,
a small sound that was all sounds.

Always pleading with the perfumed
river and smiling seductively, the
daughter tried to sell me things.
T-shirts, postcards of old Vietnam
and oversized conical hats.

So I bought a t-shirt
with ‘Hue’ on the front.
Even though I knew it was too small,
it seemed the right thing to do.

There was no imitation of life,
just three people in a moment.
Awake to the filtered sunshine,
that occupies most of our days.