Once upon a time I lived
in a hut with ten other guys
in a village near Kaesong
north of the 38th parallel
Snow fell that February
drifting in row on row
on the rice paddies
and in the village street
We slept spooning
guy to guy on the floor
dreaming of home
and the girls we left
It was a dream world
then and now as I recall
the awful brutality
of our awkward life
We foraged like insects
for leftovers from rice
infested with droppings
of the silent mice
We were less than human
and we felt ashamed
to have become prisoners
of bestial captors
Three years in captivity
and we came home
abashed and silent
to another country!
Michael Pruchnicki
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-village-near-kaesong/
