Poetry inspired by the Khmer

by Hart Feuer

Angkoreans        (June 11, 2004)

Descendants of diffuse greatness

A smiling whim of presentness

Dissolves in a tonic of opportunism

Till the shreds of national sovereignty

Release the shadowed doubt

Of a troubled and indecisive people

Kethya        (June 13, 2004)

A babble of stressed syllables

English of a different era

Victorian in intention

Neanderthal in meaning

The lips of a smiling heart

And a selfless soul

Of a gentle nation

(FYI, Kethya is the program manager of the Center in Phnom Penh.  His English is grammatically correct, but very hard to understand.)