User talk:Kelly.ostrom

"What Were They Like" is a poem written by Denise Levertov. Levertov questions what it was like for the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. She answers the questions, writing about what it must have been like for them during the war. She contrasts the violence of the war with the beauty of the country’s people.

"What Were They Like"

Did the people of Viet Nam use lanterns of stone? Did they hold ceremonies to reverence the opening of buds? Were they inclined to quiet laughter? Did they use bone and ivory, jade and silver, for ornament? Had they an epic poem? Did they distinguish between speech and singing?

Sir, their light hearts turned to stone. It is not remembered whether in gardens stone gardens illumined pleasant ways. Perhaps they gathered once to delight in blossom, but after their children were killed there were no more buds. Sir, laughter is bitter to the burned mouth. A dream, perhaps. Ornament is for joy. All the bones were charred. It was not remembered. Remember, most were peasants; their life was in rice and bamboo. When peaceful clouds were reflecte in the paddies and the water buffalo stepped surely along terraces, maybe fathers told their sons old tales. When bombs smashed those mirrors there was only time to scream. There is an echo yet of their speech which was like a song. It was reported their singing resembled the flight of moths in moonlight. Who can say? It is silent now.