Sabaidee took took kone. Thank you Kongkeo for allowing me to post mine so quickly. Here is my poem. I wrote it for a special friend of mine who had to part from his child. I believe I took the theme a bit too literally. Nevertheless, here it is. Huk Paeng, DokMai A soft voice from a gentle heart by DokMai 1/02/98 ~~~~~~~~ come to me my child sing me your sweet gentle goodbye .. I must part with distance and future as my gift .. I depart to seek a better life for you and for me .. I cannot describe the torment in my heart for within sorrow my weakness is revealed .. my weakness will deplete you of the strength you need in my absence .. Even though I will be alone and away I will remember love you so freely gave and your innocence that brought me the sun for my days and the moon for my nights .. There will be another day when we can hold each other and love each other .. I will embrace you and hold you close to my chest as now I hold you close within my heart .. if you hear a voice whispering your name in the wind know that it is my heart made tender from your love gently calling to you my one my only my child .. -- the end KBE 1998 Disclaimer : The views expressed in all SatJaDham postings are the responsibilty of the author and do not neccessarily represent those of all members of SatJaDham or the Lao community. Please send any comments, criticism, questions, or suggestions to ss2b@frank.mtsu.edu or post them on Soc.culture.laos newsgroup. For more information about SatJaDham please visit our homepage at http://www.lao.net/satjadham.html or http://www.cs.sonoma.edu/~saycocie/sjdnews.html.