Luyện nghe bài hát Tibetan Side of Town

Through rutted streets of Kathmandu
Dodging crowded humans cows rickshaws -
constellated pools of bluewhite
Bright against darkening

The butterfly sparkle in my lasered eye still
To hold that shot of red sun through haze over jumbled roofs
Everything moves like slow fluid in atmosphere
Thick as
sewage, incense, dust and fever and the smoke of brick kilns and cremations -
Tom bike rumbles down -
we're going drinking on the side of town.

Beggar withered legs sits sideways on skateboard, grinning
a joke going on somewhere but we'll never know
Those kids with hungry eyes must be in on it too
With clinging memories of a culture crushed
By Chinese

young mother by the temple gate
Covers her baby's face diesel fumes
That of concern - you can see it still -
Not yet masked by the hard lines of a
to survive

Hard bargains down
When you're living on the Tibetan of town.

Big red Enfield Bullet to a halt in the dust
Last blast of leaves a ringing in the ears
That fades into the rustle of feet and slapping sandals
And the baritone of long bronze trumpets
Muffled by walls.

Prayer flags crack whips in the breeze
to the world - tonight the message blows east
Dark door opens to warm room and there
Are these steaming jugs of hot millet
and I'm sucked into the scene like this up
bamboo straw

Sweet sliding down -
on the Tibetan side of town