Ghosts in Vietnam

Ghosts in Vietnam

63 lines


Back in 1994 I first visited Vietnam
I came back in 2019
prior to the COVID lockdowns.

I was a few years too young
To have gone to Vietnam
During the war.

But having grown up
In Berkeley, I knew a lot
About the war.

When I came back in 2019
We stayed near the Pham Ngu Lao
Backpackers district, filled with foreigners.

Many of them were elderly men
Returning to Vietnam.
Revisiting the country

Where they had fought
The war so long ago.

I could not shake the feeling
there were ghosts of the dead
Still roaming around the country.

We went on a tour of Chu Chi tunnels
Which the Viet Cong
used throughout the war.

The US-led coalition was never able
To completely shut down the tunnels
Or even locate many of them.

The tunnels have been restored
Part of the war tourism industry
That has emerged in Vietnam

Vietnam is both proud that
they defeated the US
But has also become friendly

I and my wife entered the tunnel
I had to crawl through the tunnels
And began to panic.

Imagining that the tunnels
Were filled with the enemy
That were ready to kill me.

I saw the ghosts of both the Viet Kong
And the hapless US
soldiers fighting them

I felt that I had
gone back in time
Was there.

I got out
fleeing the ghosts
Who was laughing at me.

When I got back
While having dinner
In the backpacker's district

I look up and saw
An old American
dressed in full battle gear

Having a beer
across the street
I went back to my dinner

Looked up
a few minutes later
The man was gone

And I felt I had seen
Yet another ghost
In Vietnam.