Pattaya Inferno. Canto III

Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
   se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
LASCIATE OGNE SPERANZA, VOI CH'INTRATE.

A high archway with lettering like coiled rope
   (Thai writing – also English), seemed to say:
‘ALL THOSE WHO ENTER HERE ABANDON HOPE’,

   And then I saw it in a different way:
It just said, ‘WALKING STREET’ – but still my vision
   Lingered, filling my heart with black dismay.

Dante, seeing this, said with derision,
   ‘Those words are written on the gates of Hell,
And those who enter here make the decision

   To break the seventh commandment. Let me spell
It out: DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.
   Like you, the men who come here know it well

But that does not prevent them making free
   With every Jezebel that passes by.
Let’s go inside this bar, and you will see.

   I said to him, ‘I don’t understand why,
We’re going here – I’ve seen it all before!’
   ‘But you must see it with a different eye:

Last month when you came in this bar and saw
   That naked girl bathing in the Jacuzzi
You didn’t think it sinful. What is more,

   You put your hand in where the soap’s most oozy,
And stroked her butt and boobs, gave her some baht,
  And took her for the night. She wasn’t choosey;

She didn’t care that you were bald and fat;
   She is a sinner too; she lusts for money,
And she could see you had plenty of that.

   ‘It was a bit of fun!’ ‘It wasn’t funny
To your wife, Lek – no wonder she left you:
   She got the stings and you got all the honey!’

‘If I’d known what you intended to do –
   Bring me here to preach and put me down –
I wouldn’t have come; I would have seen it through!’

   ‘Then have a Heineken and look around
And see yourself reflected in these others –
   That man is 60, yet young girls surround

Him like a hungry locust swarm that hovers
   Above the crop that they will soon devour;
At least they send their earnings to their mothers

   And do what little good is in their power;
While he obscenely drools in selfish lust,
   Not caring that his married life turns sour,

Or that his kids regards him with disgust.’
   ‘I hope I’m just as randy at his age!
Better that than let my vitals rust!’

   Dante shook his head like an old sage.
‘You just don’t get it; God laid down a plan –
   It’s written on the Bible’s every page,

And points the way for every mortal man.
   To follow it is to find the way to heaven;
To go your own way is the way to damn

   Your soul!’ ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t believe in
All those medieval myths because, in schools
   Today, we study science. You were naïve in

Your day and the Catholic Church made fools
   Of all its followers. Today we’re wiser;
And everybody lives by his own rules.’

   ‘With what result? Look at those girls. Their eyes are
Empty though a smile is on their faces;
   And look at those guys watching them. Those guys are

Dreaming of the girls in their embraces.
   But when they get a girl back to their room,
They’ll feel the emptiness, because nothing replaces

   Love – especially mechanical boom-boom.’
I looked around hoping to point out any
   Truly happy face – but saw just gloom.

I didn’t know lust had undone so many.

© Bangkok Byron, 2007. All rights reserved by the author.