Thich Quang Duc Vietnamese Socrates

They said you were drugged
They said you were a communist
They said you were a senile old man


They said nothing about your spirit
They said nothing about your courage
They said nothing about your compassion


Downtown Saigon, corner of
Phan Dinh Phung and Le Van Duyet
Mid-day the eleventh of June, Nineteen Sixty-Three
in front of the entire world-Self Immolation


Lam Van Tuc, the seven year old boy
gave up life as he knew it to become a monk
Tich Quang Duc, the sixty-seven year old monk
gave up life as he knew it to become a saint


They talked about dominoes
They talked about communist
They talked about freedom


They said nothing about civil war
They said nothing about Buddhist
They said nothing about oppression


Downtown Saigon, corner of
Phan Dinh Phung and Le Van Duyet
Mid-day the eleventh of June, Nineteen Sixty-Three
in front of the entire world-Self Immolation

At the Venerable Thich Quang Duc Monastery
Melbourne, Australia
You are an admirable historical personage,
a legend


They said you were an ordinary monk
They said you were insane
They said you did it for the TV coverage


They never said you wrote a letter
They never said Buddhist were being persecuted
They never said Director of Rituals of the United
Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation


Downtown Saigon, corner of
Phan Dinh Phung and Le Van Duyet
Mid-day the eleventh of June, Nineteen Sixty-Three
in front of the entire world-Self Immolation


Your great heart and your great letter are both
preserved
Still Buddhist are persecuted in Vietnam My head
at your feet

Drew Logan
drewlogan@ravenet.com