Over The Burma Border

2002
West of Mai Sai
A dirt road on a mountain ridge
Straddling the border
Between Thailand and Burma
The Golden Triangle
Hot
Dry
Dusty
Route 1149
Turn right
Out of Thailand
Into Burma
An illegal entry
On a 250cc ATX Honda.
An old man
Walking
I give him a ride
For safety
Passing guard towers
Young men with AK47
Seeing the old man
They wave.
Stop at a village
Surrounded by eternal opium fields.
Children gawk at the falang
An old white man in black
Two men with AK47s.
Watch From a bar.
Thinking DEA.
Dead beers on the table
Two beers buy a smile.
Beer almost cold.
The old man clink glass.
A toast Chai yo.
Drink

Ahead to the west
Rows of dragon backed ridges
Offering to satisfy
The urge to go
To ride through Burma
To Victoria's Peak.
Then the Himalayas
Tibet
Nepal
India
All the way to Paris.

Finish the beer
Get on the motosai
A full tank
Cash in my pocket
Time on my hands.
Rev the engine.
Do not shift into first.

Behind me
Back in Mai Sai
A room on the river.
None of my possessions
Worth anything
There.

Here a bike, a passport, money, and the clothes on my back.

Back in Mai Sai
Aphinya
A friend
If I go
She will wonder where I went
Kwam-luklab
A mystery.
I have said
The L word
Chan lak ter
I love you
To Aphinya.

The 250 says
Go
The mountains say
Come.
The Lao kids look at me
Laugh.
"Nawh."
Thai for fool
Ching Ching
The truth.

I turn around
Mai Sai bound
To Aphinya
In the bungalow
By the river
Away from Burma
The Himalayas
Paris.
That road will be there
Forever
Always there
For another day
Some time.