The Garden of Lanterns of Grave Lament

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The Gar­den, The End of Our Nev­erend­ing
As I lay you down on the grass, the orange daisies weep­ing around us, the lotus flow­ers open­ing and clos­ing, the armaged­don com­ing and com­ing, my love, my love, this is the end of our neverending.

We go down together. We enter the gar­den of lanterns of grave lament, as the ghosts and the dead gen­er­als ser­e­nade in dread tor­ment. We go down together, give us a kiss, give us a prayer. I’ve been a bad man, sure, but believe me, my beloved, I’m no sinner.

Hand in my hand, lips upon my lips, we fall against the ready soil and we go down together.

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The Lanterns, The Song, Their Grave Lament
This is where the rhyming ends. Real life does not move to verse, nor does time bend to meter and melody. For what we fail to under­stand, the song keeps us lost in a gut-wrenching rhapsody.

What song, you ask?

This song, every song we ever hear. We used to sing it, all of us, the same song, high and clear.

The lotus flower opens and greets us; we are vis­i­tors and we are here. The gates open to the gar­den. Here where lanterns glow in grave lament, for lost souls and for­got­ten gen­er­als of wars long past. His­tory is buried here, and the dead walk in pairs so they won’t be with­out another hand upon their own.

It is a beau­ti­ful day. All the ghosts in the gar­den of lanterns of grave lament begin to sing. All the ghosts, every sacred host. This song, our song, the song of every being.

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The Eye of the Lion, the Flames and the Car­rion
The work of skilled crafts­men who wan­der amongst the dead, their lights a haunted glow our grow­ing dread do spread. Demon fire clus­tered in hun­dreds, thou­sands, maybe; hang­ing from the stars, the hills, the trees. This explod­ing life, this decay, this spoil­ing menu of dark, dark­ened days. Goblin-work this is, mis­chief and malev­o­lence, we dance together, as beasts, as bur­dens, as colours chang­ing with every damned season.

The flames and the car­rion, let the fire feed on what must die and pass. Thus framed in the eye of the lion, all that is life shall not last. Such ter­ri­ble truth and unease do our mor­tal strains release.

We are shoot­ing stars, we are speed, we are flam­ing lions on the prowl.

No one shall ever catch us now.

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Bud­dha Sun­rise
The uni­verse smacks me by the side of my head. I needed that, eh? I need some chang­ing, some quick­en­ing, my blood spun and sped. What is zen and what gets spent, our mate­r­ial gir­dle, a cap­i­tal­ist cycle that has no safety brakes, no sea­son for snowflakes. This is the sum­mer of our mal­con­tent, our glory days came and went. This life, this song, this story, it has no shel­ter, no canopy.

We live with our hearts on our sleeves, with time thick as thieves. Will we get to spend it all before the sun sets, will we get to throw down that final bet? Your guess is as good as mine. Just don’t miss that sun­rise, sublime.

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The Duel­ing Drag­ons and the Heart’s Desire
The lessons that we learn, the karma we must burn. All that is good shall come to war, the drag­ons duel­ing at our door. The angel and the devil shall wres­tle, upon our mor­tal bone and pes­tle. I should go and let them end, or else to a deci­sion come shall I pretend.

Who could love you more than I could? Who could love you when it is I who should?

I rub the stone and I whis­per, upon God’s throne a lit­tle prayer: May we have our heart’s desire and not regret it; may our love be blessed and not lost to cheap deceit.

No one could love you more than I could. You who are every­thing in my life that is good.

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Farewell
Here it is. The time for good­bye. I bid you farewell and a very good life. The song has been sung, the lamented hearts wrung. The gar­den is closed, the ashes dis­posed. The ghosts return to their plots, these silent lambs of God. Sum­mer shifts to spring, the sea­sons revers­ing. As we depart, we arrive; the actors replay­ing their parts. We go down together, we come alive, we bid you farewell and a very good life.

A very good life, my friends, may you have this with all amends.

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… post­script
This is the last part of my Viet­nam series, Sto­ries from the City, Sto­ries from the Sea. I know it’s a long time com­ing (sup­pos­edly to be posted in Feb­ru­ary, no less) and when it arrived, it sure was longer than any of us expected. For­tu­nately, there shall be no Part Five. (For now, at least, until I return to this rus­tic land not so faraway.)

But I do bid all my read­ers adieu… for three weeks, any­way. I’m off the Great Bri­tan­nia for a good rest and a fun time with my won­der­ful friends Eng­lish and Scot­tish alike. I fly on the mor­row. Life for Begin­ners will be on hia­tus till mid-May at least. Don’t worry; like the Guber­na­tor… I veel bee bak. ;)

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~ * ~

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Pho­tographs & design by Kenny Mah.
Hà Nội, Vietnam.

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Sto­ries from the City, Sto­ries from the Sea
  Part 1: The Com­mu­nist Mer­man
  Part 2: These Pages They Dream
  Part 3: The Streets of Long Good­byes
  Part 4: The Gar­den of Lanterns of Grave Lament

66 Comments

  • You should travel more. You can write love sto­ries for trav­el­ogue. Salute!

    *Will have sweet dreams tonight*

  • omg i can’t believe i’ll be see­ing these pretty silk lanterns when i’m in hanoi in 6 wks’ time! so, will thr be sto­ries from the great bri­tan­nia soon? ;)

  • A while ago I was here and yet time flies that you writ­ten lots on Viet­nam which I missed. This is where you end and I will start the sequel of Hanoi in May/June. Will be there in May includ­ing to SAPA, a nice high­land but no love songs.….

  • Who could love you more than I could? Who could love you when it is I who should?”

    Can’t help but empathise with the arro­gance of the pos­ses­sion! My love is always bet­ter, even if I am the only one who thinks so.

    Have a great trip to GB Kenny! Bring us back more sto­ries now, ya hear?

  • A really mys­ti­cal place on earth , replete with rain­bolic call­ings even we can feel it here in mis­guided n mis­placed Gas­tro­nomic Coun­try south of where your almost nearly per­fect sen­ti­men­tal sojourn is just beginning

  • ah! you’re going away!!! i just got back!

    well.… at least i’ll have your entire part1-4 series to keep my com­pany for the next 3 weeks…! safe jour­ney and happy holidays!

  • Every(almost) post you write oozes with love & sen­su­al­ity.. I can imag­ine how your beloved must feel when you whis­per words of love into her ears. ;)

    I wish you a safe & enjoy­able trip. :)

    Have a scone & a cucum­ber sand­wich for me. :P

  • Okay. LIke can I hire you to be my pho­tog­ra­pher when I travel! I love the pics!

  • they never end, these lives on land. mem­o­ries befall from the mer­man, just to see you again. for­get them not, spare them a thought. when the gar­dens of Bri­tan­nia greet, there the old friends meet. for good times last, present or past.

    sail on, mer­man! let the wind tan­gles your skin, let your adven­tures begin!

  • The col­or­ful lanterns are so pretty…

    See you in mid-May!!! Ta..ta.…

  • 3 weeks vaca­tion?!! wow. i envy you lah .….

    i’m sure you’ll have a great time over there. cant wait for you to wax lyri­cal (erm, sounds mor­bid eh, AWOL?!! hehe) bout UK.

  • ~ elfie ~ wrote:

    No one could love you more than I could. You who are every­thing in my life that is good.”

    this roman­tic before a vaca­tion? i can­not imag­ine how u will wax lyri­cal AFTER ur hon­ey­moon, hehehe .…

  • I fall in love. Every smile on your face, never fails to brighten up my day. Every drop of tears you shred, it hurts me so in my heart. Alas, the good times never lasts, this is the end. I’m just a passerby in your colour­ful life. Farewell, my dear.

  • You will come back with a series of 10 replete with gar­goyles and Eng­lish drag­ons!? But please let the good tri­umph over evil as there are times I dread to read too dark a tale.

  • Kenny Mah, Kenny Mah, where have you been?
    I’ve been to Lon­don to visit the Queen.
    Kenny Mah, Kenny Mah, what did you do there?
    I fright­ened a lit­tle mouse, under her chair

    Sud­denly rhymes like this comes into my head. Aiyo! Even Lon­don Bridge is falling down is ring­ing in my head! oh no.…

  • Enjoy your trip, man!

  • The “botak” tree so artistic!!!

  • Who could love you more than I could?’

    Echoes from a past, that — words said before by a girl in another life in another time, before that very same time was counted by the frozen pearls of her tears. So very true. But, I’ll have more to tell you when I –do– see you again, promise. :)

    I hope you’re hav­ing a won­der­ful time in Bri­tan­nia (lord, I miss it, I was there last year for the first time after uni and it wasn’t nearly enough). But! Just to let you know! I’ve nom­i­nated you for a Malaysian Cre­ative Blog­ger award here:

    http://shukuen.blogspot.com/2009/05/monday-surprise.html

    Because your writ­ing is so beau­ti­ful and even when I don’t think I pos­si­bly could, you make me cry because it touches my heart. :)

  • Wait­ing to see your com­ing post of your great hol­i­day. Till then, have a won­der­ful time.

  • Calypso wrote:

    what a sur­real gar­den like alice in won­der­land! :)

  • So colour­ful.

  • jordan wrote:

    Demon fire clus­tered in hun­dreds, thou­sands, maybe; hang­ing from the stars, the hills, the trees. This explod­ing life, this decay, this spoil­ing menu of dark, dark­ened days.”

    sur­real n scary.… nice. ;)

  • just drop by to read your blog.. happy day ahead :)

  • kristopher wrote:

    what are u rub­bing down there? ;)

  • Poh Chu wrote:

    One minute Eng­land and now Viet­nam? Wah u really travel a lot lah! So envy…

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Ah, travel’s only fun if it’s for plea­sure and not busi­ness, no? The lat­ter is very, very tir­ing lah. But I’m cer­tainly not com­plain­ing — for every month of hard work­ing trips (no pun intended), shouldn’t I be granted a week or two of sweet vaca­tion? :)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Have loads of fun in Hanoi, dear! It’s fan­tas­tic… and very inspir­ing as you can tell by the num­ber of posts I can’t seem but help roll out here, hehe.

    As for the Great Bri­tan­nia, well, would any­one believe me if I said I won’t have sto­ries from my trip there? :P

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Oooh the high­lands! I’m sure if you lis­ten hard enough, you will hear a love song or two… ;)

    Safe trip and have fun in May/June!

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    The arro­gance of pos­ses­sion? I love that expres­sion — it’s true what they say about if you love some­one you let them go… but not too far lah, make sure you have a rope attached to their waist or ankle or some­thing… LOL

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Gas­tro­nomic Coun­try — that sounds like a fine name for a travel cook­book (or do I mean cook­ing trav­el­guide?) … Hmm.

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Haha, every­one seems to be in a mad mael­strom of hol­i­day fever right now… Well, I’m glad you’re back safely… Time for me to embark on my own jour­ney… :)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    “Have a scone & a cucum­ber sand­wich for me.”

    For you, my dear, I’ll have two! :D

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Kein prob­lem, mein Fre­und… Just pay for my travel and accom­mo­da­tion and I am soooo on board! ;)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    The adven­ture begins indeed in Avalon, where I can feast on but­tered scones and Eng­lish abalones… Not a mer­man am I there, but a selkie, British and bare…

    Oh dear. Need to stop. Rhyming. Or I shall drop… :P

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Pretty and sur­pris­ingly cheap too! Go buy, go buy! Hahaha…

    See ya guys soon enough! :)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Wax Lyri­cal? Oh dear, I’m not sure the lady will enjoy that, though I’m been told I have strong, gen­tle hands, ahem. :P

  • ~ elfie ~ wrote:

    it’s high time u pub­lish a book be it a cook­book or travel guide JUST DO IT! :)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    *meeps*

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Not a hon­ey­moon lah… :P

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Awww… I didn’t realise I meant that much to you, LIC. Hehe.

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Urgles. If I came back with a ten-part series, I doubt I have to worry about my read­ers faint­ing from the sheer size of it — I’d faint first from exhaus­tion! :P

    But yeah, doesn’t good always tri­umph over evil? At least in my books, they do.

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    The funny thing is … I am vis­it­ing a friend nick­named ‘Mouse’ there… Not in Lon­don though but Edin­burgh! :P

  • LOL! no la, look­ing at the graden of lanterns of grave lament, prompts me to write that. And its not for u :D

  • Kenny Mah is falling down,
    Falling down, Falling down.

    Kenny Mah is falling down,
    Falling down, Falling down.

    Never-ending :D

  • jordan wrote:

    but if the rope is too loose she will run away.… :p

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Thanks, dear — just got back today! :D

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Hehe, can you imag­ine it when it had a full head of hair, er, leaves? :P

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Ooh, this is over a week due… Just got back to KL today and what a nice sur­prise this is, dear. Danke! :)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    The UK vaca­tion posts will be com­ing… just not too soon. Have to return to the grind of things first, i.e. work on Mon­day! :(

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Ah, one day I should write a Malaysian ver­sion of Lewis Carroll’s clas­sic, no? Be darn weird, it would (weirder than it already is?).

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    All the colours of the rain­bow, mate, all the colours of the rain­bow ;)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    You don’t know half of it, sniggers.

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Ah but if she’s meant to be yours she will return, with­out a rope or a noose.…

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Aww, I wish it were… :P

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Speak­ing of nev­erend­ing… :P

  • jordan wrote:

    there’s more?

  • jordan wrote:

    like a but­ter­fly that flies back to its owner?

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Some­thing lid­dat. But maybe not owner since we do not each other truly pos­sess, if you know what I mean. :)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    There’s always more, always. What mat­ters is whether we can leave these dark­ened days behind us or not.

  • jordan wrote:

    yes, i under­stand. love is not about possesing.

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Attaboy! :)

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Heya Leon, thanks for drop­ping by — always glad to see a friendly face! Have a happy day ahead too! :D

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    One does won­der. :P

  • Poh Chu wrote:

    Dun bluff us lah… sure got sto­ries wan… lol

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    :P

  • Kenny Mah wrote:

    Actu­ally it was Viet­nam first (Feb ’09), then the UK (May ’09). I only wish I trav­elled more (for plea­sure, that is — not work!)

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