Dr.
Walcott
I
pour myself a cup of strong black tea
and
slip a binder from my satchel.
Eddie,
tell me what you see,
I
wasn't there, I can't help
unless
I see.
Eddie
I
sit on the edge of the couch and center
a
sandstone coaster on the coffee table.
I
open a bottle of cherry coke
and
pour it down the side of my glass.
I
pull a flask of light sweet rum
from
my lapel and stiffen my coke.
I
center my
glass on the coaster.
It's
dark, I'm lost, it's noon,
I'm
blinded by fire from the hills.
Dr.
Walcott
I
swirl the tea leaves
on
the bottom of my cup.
What
do you hear? I wasn't there,
I
can't help unless you tell me
the
names of the men and the places.
Eddie
The
voices no longer have names,
but
the Mekong, the brown river,
there's
a name for you, you weren't there,
you
don't hear the nameless voices.
The
wind blows warm from the delta at dawn
and
hot from the hill country at noon,
sleep,
dawn, direction fail me,
time
is forever noon and hot.