Koh Samet.

Deep green and distant islands
I have been off Ban Pae Pier.
Where the salt white sands are bleached,
And the water’s crystal clear.
Sweeping shadows of the palm trees,
Open fingers brush the shore.
Band of grey approaching thunder,
Monsoon rain a little more.

Without care for tortured world
We bronzed our thoughts away.
Cosmopolitan games of volleyball,
Oriental Eden made for play.
Beachside huts now mute and toppled,
No more bucks from Uncle Sam.
My friends have now gone elsewhere,
Have they gone to Vietnam?

Korean families with their beach craft,
Who’ve discovered Diamond Sands.
While away their humid moments,
Where a noisy jet ski lands.
My uncovered secret heaven
Was impossible to hide.
Speeding years and aging faces,
From those memories we cried.

Why couldn’t it last forever?
Tearful dreams of carefree days.
Fleeting moments of impermanence,
They’re our lives the Buddha says.
So now it’s time to move along,
Relieved so one pretends.
Now I’ll sit alone and drink awhile,
To the ghosts of dancing friends.