From warm white cocoons
we blink open eyes dry from blown silt,
stretching aching limbs as
we slowly come to life.
Leaving snoring bunkmates
deep within their dreams,
we set out in search of our own.
Stuffed knee-to-knee,
we bump down dark, dusty roads
in our race against the rising sun.
Doors slide open, tumble lazily
into morning’s tempered heat.
We slip among a sea of
nodding heads and drooping eyes.
As light breaks in the distance,
quiet chatter subdues in echoes
across the still, reflective pond.
Orange fades to purple,
yellow, red and pink as
we gaze in wonder just beyond
the crumbling temple ruins.
So quickly tie-dyed skies
smudge to even strokes of blue,
released all at once
from the sky’s hypnotic trance.
Seeing sunrise at Angkor Wat
is to journey back in time
while experiencing the birth
of each day’s new life.
