The Fifth Dimension 

                                                Who made the fifth dimension mercy?" – Quan Barry

                        January 2005, year of the Cock,
                        my birth year times six,
                        revisiting places that haunt,
                        greatest pain feared not. I dread
                        lack of pain, not feeling, not healing.
                        Tuy Hòa City, capital Phú Yên Province,
                        billiard-table coastal plain, verdant,
                        South China Sea east, mountains west,
                        blood-fertilized paddies south.
                        Our blood, their blood.
                        Grenades launched into the night,
                        destiny unknown,
                        awaiting still opportunity to fulfill.
                        Motorbike cowboy ride to Cham tower, hill
                        overlooking town and sea and paddies,
                        horizon hazy green, no trace of red,
                        no blood smell on the air, the land whole.
                        All this beauty has survived,
                        the culture, the land, the people, ancestors too.
                        Friend points out statue of Kuan Am,
                        white-robed, standing on red lotus petal,
                        right hand raised in Om mantra,
                        left cradling a vase.
                        I query who's that?
                        Bohisattva, Chinese Goddess of Mercy,
                        vase tilted down, nectar of life and compassion
                        flowing out, puddling around my feet,
                        bathing me in healing energy.
                        Transformation within unfamiliar, unknown,
                        but welcome. My blood flows warmer, enlivened,
                        the Fifth Dimension better than scouring powder
                        removing Lady Macbeth's bane,
                        barrier, shield, refuge no more.

                                                for Susannah

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                        by Founding Poet  Paul Hellweg   Copyright © 2016 
                        VWP 2016     First published in  Proud To Be  2016 

                        ​Bio:  Paul Hellweg  is the  Founder of this  VietnamWarPoetry.com  website. 
                        For more info, please see his bio on the  About Us  page and on his  Bio / War Poetry  page. 
                        PaulHellweg.com                        PaulHellweg.com/poetry