Lawrence Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
A Right Turn in Viet-Nam
And whether we shall meet again, I know not.
Therefore our everlasting farewell take.
Forever and forever farewell…
If we do meet again, why we shall smile;
If not, why then this parting was well made.
Julius Caesar V.i.125-129
This is not a metaphor for anything
Only a memory of driving an ambulance
A clapped-out relic of the Second World War
On a street on the Tien Sha Peninsula
1969
For a left turn the driver extends his left hand
And waves
It’s okay to wave back, but that’s not the point
For a right turn the driver extends his right hand
And waves
It’s okay to wave back, but that’s not the point
If there’s a passenger, he extends his right hand
And waves
It’s okay to wave back, but that’s not the point
If there are two passengers, the one most to the right…
But you get the point
It’s okay to wave back – that’s the point
A Dodge ambulance, a Vietnamese Army Jeep, and a Renault
Meet at an intersection – and somehow miss each other
And I miss Viet-Nam.
If we do meet again…
