Starlight Scope Myopia (2004)
Yusef Komunyakaa
Gray-blue shadows lift
shadows onto an oxcart.
Making night work for us,
the starlight scope brings
men into killing range.
The river under Vi Bridge
takes the heart away
like the Water God
riding his dragon.
Smoke-colored
Viet Cong
move under our eyelids,
lords over loneliness
winding like coral vine through
sandalwood & lotus,
inside our lowered heads
years after this scene
ends. The brain closes
down. What looks like
one step into the trees,
they're lifting crates of ammo
& sacks of rice, swaying
under their shared weight.
Caught in the infrared,
what are they saying?
Are they talking about women
or calling the Americans
beaucoup dien cai dau?
One of them is laughing.
You want to place a finger
to his lips & say "shhhh."
You try reading ghost talk
on their lips. They say
"up-up we go," lifting as one.
This one, old, bowlegged,
you feel you could reach out
& take him in your arms. You
peer down the sights of your M-16,
seeing the full moon
loaded on an oxcart.