<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">What Were They Like?<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="KonaBody" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-right: 5px;"><p style="font-variant-ligatures: normal !important; font-variant-position: normal !important; font-variant-numeric: normal !important; font-variant-alternates: normal !important; font-variant-east-asian: normal !important; line-height: 23px !important;" class="">Did the people of Viet Nam<br class="">use lanterns of stone?<br class="">Did they hold ceremonies<br class="">to reverence the opening of buds?<br class="">Were they inclined to quiet laughter?<br class="">Did they use bone and ivory,<br class="">jade and silver, for ornament?<br class="">Had they an epic poem?<br class="">Did they distinguish between speech and singing?<br class=""><br class="">Sir, their light hearts turned to stone.<br class="">It is not remembered whether in gardens<br class="">stone gardens illumined pleasant ways.<br class="">Perhaps they gathered once to delight in blossom,<br class="">but after their children were killed<br class="">there were no more buds.<br class="">Sir, laughter is bitter to the burned mouth.<br class="">A dream ago, perhaps. Ornament is for joy.<br class="">All the bones were charred.<br class="">it is not remembered. Remember,<br class="">most were peasants; their life<br class="">was in rice and bamboo.<br class="">When peaceful clouds were reflected in the paddies<br class="">and the water buffalo stepped surely along terraces,<br class="">maybe fathers told their sons old tales.<br class="">When bombs smashed those mirrors<br class="">there was time only to scream.<br class="">There is an echo yet<br class="">of their speech which was like a song.<br class="">It was reported their singing resembled <br class="">the flight of moths in moonlight.<br class="">Who can say? It is silent now. <br class=""></p><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Denise Levertov</div></div></div></body></html>