Materialism In The Ruins Poem by RIC BASTASA

brown little girl
idle in one of the nooks of the
ruins of Ankor Wat

on the poetic side
i thought she is hungry for love
and begs for
affection

having lost her mother to the war
her father buried on those killing fields of
Pol Pot

time has not healed her wounds i suppose
and she must be in need
of a home

her eyes are sunken niches
in those shallow graves of
Siem Reap

nevertheless i must be awakened
that for now all she needs
are nothing but
concrete coins


and the moment she receives them
she runs back to her fold
and dances with all joy