[Poem] Kinnaly

While "No Regrets" was ultimately chosen as the poem included in the Poetry Parnassus in London this year and "The World Record Anthology," there were six poems that had been submitted for consideration: "On A Stairway In Luang Prabang," which is being read on the BBC later this month, "Zelkova Tree," "The Shape," "Thread Between Stone," and "Kinnaly."  Originally, "Kinnaly" appeared in my 2009 book Tanon Sai Jai:

Kinnaly 

So many days in flight, in the air or on stage
Lately, you seem half human, half bird,
Almost mythic, always beautiful and magic.

Bridging worlds beyond words and page,
Where trees have a special music and cities a special poetry,
We pass on our hopes one song, one note at a time until one day

Every sword is set aside happily to build instead,
A nation of peaceful students bright as summer lightning
Whether in Washington or Vientiane, Paris or the Bay.

We grow, step by step and smiling,
Not just to remember today,
But to change and transform before returning to the heavens,

Holding the dreams of elders and our own as one,

Not just for the world made by yesterday
But for the best stars yet to be.