Dai Vaughan continues his Cambodian diary. His adventures, complemented by the atmospheric paintings by his wife Jenny, are chronicled in From Pollokshields to Angkor Wat (published by Art-Works, Glasgow).
KAMPOT
Saturday 31st December
So here we are in Kampot
On New Year’s Eve
The place is crazy
Down by the riverside
Thanks to the French
There’s a boulevard
Planted and elegant
Tonight it’s packed with people
Families mostly sitting on patterned mats
Eating drinking chatting together
Some are cooking
Some are putting up small tents
Children everywhere
It seems that every inch is taken
The only thing to do
Is cross over the road
~
Sitting tonight
On the balcony of where we’re staying
I can see through the archway
Beams of white light
Criss crossing at random
Across the sky
It reminds me of my proposal
Many years ago
That beams of light
Should be markers of our city
A city encircled by light
Later I realised
That only three beams were needed
One from the top of Camphill
In Queens Park
One from beside the statue of John Knox
In the Necropolis
And one from Govan by the river
The site of Glasgow’s first church
Only these three are needed
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