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increase
decreaseBangkok Don Juan
Book the Second
Canto the Fourth
Butterfly
I
Jum said, one morning, “We go my flend’s loom,
And then gin kao pai duai-gan – go eat,
And then we go to temple – make tambun,
Then back to loom, flend’s husband then we meet.”
Jim said, “An interesting afternoon,
But this evening, we’ll hit Walking Street.”
Jum looked at Jim, and frowned and asked him why:
“I think you chao-chua – you butterfly!”
II
Jum’s friend was Wan. She had a baby boy;
A buidoi with Thai eyes and farang nose
(In ‘Miss Saigon’ they use the word buidoi,
But what the Thai word is God only knows*).
He was his mother’s one and only joy;
But kids – our Jim had had enough of those –
He’d brought his up (his children were not forced
To suffer too much when he got divorced).
III
They had a meal, and then went to the wat,
But first they had to go to buy some creatures –
Turtles and snakes and crabs and things like that –
Jim’s puzzlement was writ upon his features:
“What are they for?” Jum said, “I show you at
The temple – making merit – we your teachers.”
They freed the creatures in the temple lake.
Jum smiled at Jim and said, “Much tambun make!”
IV
While this was more fun than a Christian service
In some medieval church in Boredomland,
Where vicars, robed in cassock, stole and surplice,
Drone on in words as dull as they are bland,
Jim thought it did the Buddhist faith disservice.
Th’ idea of merit Jim could understand,
But how you make it setting creatures free
That have been caught to sell – a mystery!
V
On the way back they went through the gay area
(Near to the wat despite the music’s noise).
Jim found it strange (although it was no scarier
Than Walking Street) to see men with their boys,
Whispering sweet nothings into their ear,
Just like sex tourists with their female toys.
Still, Jim had learned, since from Blairland he budged,
To judge not others, lest he should be judged.
VI
They had not been back long in Jum’s friend’s flat,
When a man came in. Said Wan, “Jim, this is Galy.”
Jim recognised him from their H _ _ _ _ spat
And felt embarrassed. Then he tried to rally
And smooth things over with a pleasant chat:
“Hi Gaya – sorry, Galy – sorry, Gary!”
Gary scowled at Jim with thunderous mien,
While Wan hissed in his ear, “Where have you been?”
VII
“Just drinking with a friend back in his room,”
And then his son rushed in and shouted, “Daddy!”
A sight which filled our Jim with utter gloom.
Remembering that night, he wondered, had he
Taken that bargirl back to do boom boom,
And did he do it often? He was mad – he
Had a lovely wife and son to love,
But was a butterfly – Jim did not approve.
VIII
Remembering what he had seen that day,
He tried his hardest not to judge this man,
But it was difficult – if you are gay,
Bisexual or hetero, you can
Engage in any kind of amorous play,
As long as you remember there’s a ban
On hurting others: “Unto others do,
Said Jesus, “As you would they’d do to you.”
XI
Jim thought of Dan, and wondered what he’d say,
And guessed he would refer to Gary’s karma –
That it would all come back to him one day
If ever his philandering should harm her.
Then delicacy urged them on their way;
Wan was upset, and Gary tried to calm her;
And what was more, the evening was in sight –
A special evening – it was Jim’s last night.
*luk krueng (editor)
© Bangkok Byron, 2007. All rights reserved by the author.
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July 20, 2007, 17:54
well i read ur article .. and id onn't understand thai words that u wrote here lol