John Solt
Phimai Historical Park
Khmer ruins
9-14th centuries
Thailand
birds sing among ruins
gliding through roofless
laterite gateways
left by ancients
sprinkled with
ravages of time
trees surround
the emptiness
ants carry off
a butterfly triumphantly
the little episodes
we are given
to observe
without eyes
the same
possibilities
now the chirping
becomes a hammering
as motionless as ruins
openended enough
to allow wind and rain
in the grandeur
of flowered silence
women in bikinis
and floppy sunhats
walk through the portals
accompanied by
whiskied whiskered
motorcyclists
one family's house
abuts the ruins
the 900 year old wall
is their garden fence
they think this chamber
was where the king rested
now no one makes a fuss
the piling of these rocks
stands for power
like finding hundreds of years
ahead machines from our time
each rock meant a slave
could be beaten
the monument
while a nod to the metaphysical
was a testament to giving
perfect orders
a duped contract
sullied evidence
the wishful thinking of space
obeyed
ants carrying
butterflies away
spiderwebs
across the square
sandstone pillars
animals and
faces carved
on cut columns
the misty red and brown
sandstone
burned as charcoal
black grey smudges
merge with shadows
light moves in slow motion
like a flashlight
through the portals
room to roofless
room as if the plan
for a procession
with musicians
is about to begin
as soon as the conductor
raises a hand and coughs
now the light approaches
diagonally overhead
through the skylight
you can put glass everywhere
and the ruins will be
enclosed again
bending the light
peering through
the series of open doors
to the flowering trees
brick red to green
blue and yellow ceilinged sky
the quiet punctuated
by the jungle-hooting bird
who could seek more?
who could rush to see the next?
the wind settles here
the light flickers out
the metal tablet museum label
affixed to a segment of a ruin
to describe the surviving rooms
is cracked and peeled
half indecipherable
mimicking the ruin
this vivid memory
will be chipped away
to abstract ephemeral
patterns of a ruin
erasure point
Phimai Historical Park
Khmer ruins
9-14th centuries
Thailand
birds sing among ruins
gliding through roofless
laterite gateways
left by ancients
sprinkled with
ravages of time
trees surround
the emptiness
ants carry off
a butterfly triumphantly
the little episodes
we are given
to observe
without eyes
the same
possibilities
now the chirping
becomes a hammering
as motionless as ruins
openended enough
to allow wind and rain
in the grandeur
of flowered silence
women in bikinis
and floppy sunhats
walk through the portals
accompanied by
whiskied whiskered
motorcyclists
one family's house
abuts the ruins
the 900 year old wall
is their garden fence
they think this chamber
was where the king rested
now no one makes a fuss
the piling of these rocks
stands for power
like finding hundreds of years
ahead machines from our time
each rock meant a slave
could be beaten
the monument
while a nod to the metaphysical
was a testament to giving
perfect orders
a duped contract
sullied evidence
the wishful thinking of space
obeyed
ants carrying
butterflies away
spiderwebs
across the square
sandstone pillars
animals and
faces carved
on cut columns
the misty red and brown
sandstone
burned as charcoal
black grey smudges
merge with shadows
light moves in slow motion
like a flashlight
through the portals
room to roofless
room as if the plan
for a procession
with musicians
is about to begin
as soon as the conductor
raises a hand and coughs
now the light approaches
diagonally overhead
through the skylight
you can put glass everywhere
and the ruins will be
enclosed again
bending the light
peering through
the series of open doors
to the flowering trees
brick red to green
blue and yellow ceilinged sky
the quiet punctuated
by the jungle-hooting bird
who could seek more?
who could rush to see the next?
the wind settles here
the light flickers out
the metal tablet museum label
affixed to a segment of a ruin
to describe the surviving rooms
is cracked and peeled
half indecipherable
mimicking the ruin
this vivid memory
will be chipped away
to abstract ephemeral
patterns of a ruin
erasure point
Photograph © Srisuda Foythongsamrong, 2006