TENNYSON TRAVELS

Murdoch MacKenzie

Written by Murdoch after a visit to Viet Nam in December 2002, and following his daughter Ruth's return from Viet Nam in March 2004 after more than 2 very happy years of voluntary service there.

'Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay' ( Locksley Hall 1842)

It was not Tennyson but Alexander Pope in his ' An Essay on Man ' who said: 'A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring.' However, in spite of this, we wish to venture a few reflections on our 20 day sojourn in Vietnam in the hope that it will not only get some of it out of our system but also provide you, dear gentle reader, with some food for thought. As we travelled with the much-to-be-commended Tennyson Travels, it seemed appropriate to lace this account with some timely reminders and gentle hints from the great man himself - Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 

For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever

(The Brook 1864)

  
Tennyson Travels

For men may come and men may go
But I go on for ever
Thus sings The Brook
Just like the mighty Mekong
From Tibet to Duyen Hai
She's seen it all
The latest being Doi Moi
But long ago C2 BC' 'twas China
Then till 939 AD
And after that Viets displaced the Cham
To beat off Mongols, Chinese and the Thais
But not the French of 1858
Who with Laos and Cambodia
Proclaimed it Indo-Chine
While great Mekong saw it all
Through Luang Prabang, Vientiane
And on to Phnom Penh
For men may come and men may go
But she goes on for ever
In the knowledge
That our little systems have their day
They have their day and cease to be
When such as Ho Chi Minh
 He who enlightens
In 1930 invites the people to a Party
To resist the French
And then the Vichy with Japan
Until ironically with help from China and the USA
By 1945 Vietminh command Hanoi
And Ho Chi Minh declares
A Democratic Republic of Vietnam
And then with China
Fights the French who are supported by the USA
Until the coup de grace in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu
With France defeated and duplicitous Geneva
Provides the North to Ho Chi Minh
And south of parallel 17 to France
Proposing 1956 elections for United Vietnam
Supported by the French, UK, China and the Soviets
But not by USA
Who then installed Ngo Dinh Diem to control the South
As Republic of Vietnam and no elections for dissidents or Buddhists
Who thus began the National Liberation Front
Dubbed Viet Cong by Diem
But not by Mother Mekong
For men may come and men may go
But we now know the rest
With half a million Yankees in Vietnam
The Gulf of Tonkin and defoliation
The Tet offensive and My Lai
And then the sadness of the death
Of Nguyen Sinh Cung
On 2nd September 1969
Now Vietnam's National Day
Who wanted no cult status for himself
But now lies deep embalmed in sleep
While people whisper by
And all like children talk of Uncle Ho
But then came  Paris Peace Accords
Until in April 1975 Saigon falls
And Vietnam is unified
But still 10 years of war
To oust Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge
With USA embargoes on all trade
In economic isolation from the West
With 1985 inflation at 700%
It was time for Doi Moi
To come to the rescue
And so it was in 1995
With U.S. trade embargoes lifted
And mighty Mekong with a smile upon her face
Perhaps reflecting
Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay
To let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change
As all our little systems have their day
And men may come and men may go
But still the little children bow
While the war-drum throbs no longer
And the battle flags are furled
In the Parliament of man
The Federation of the world
In which the mighty Mekong still holds sway
While people cross on boats, criss-cross
And smile and always smile
Amidst the bougainvillaea and hibiscus
With coconuts above
And massive spiders weaving wondrous webs
Ignore the  profiteers growing flowers instead of rice
And husbands beat their wives with greater frequency
As Pham Ti Mai Phuong, now Miss Vietnam
Comes 15th out of 88
When Muslim Turkey's Azra Akin wins
Miss World
Remaining quite unfazed by controversy
As neighbouring Iraq submits its dossier
Of arms in just 11,807 pages
With 352 pages of supplements and computer discs
Containing 529 megabytes of data
And even mighty Mekong has not read anything
Like this before in the coming and going
Of countless generations including the girl in the picture
Who changed the world and with the world Vietnam
Where now Confucius and the World Bank
Mingle together in the fantasy of Doi Moi
In the hope that more can be wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of
In Hanoi's first Fashion Week
With autumn and winter collections
Being show-cased on the catwalk
By the swimming pool of Sofitel Plaza
Whilst 82 year old To Huu was being remembered
In a State Memorial Service
As Vietnam's most famous revolutionary poet
Held by the Communist Party of Vietnam's Central Committee, the President, the National Assembly,
The Government and the Fatherland Front
Just as the King and Queen of Malaysia
Were in Hanoi to build co-operation
And international donors
Pledged US $2.5 million in assistance to Vietnam
For 2003 with warnings that the pace
Of reform must pick up
Whilst the Prime Minister Phan Van Khai declared It but a modest increase over 2002
As BP, Mobil, Castrol, Esso, Shell
Oil the lives of the 35 people killed each day
On Vietnam's roads the crossing of which
Leads one to believe with Tennyson that
There are indeed more things wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of
And that the tourist guide was right who said
That you know Vietnam is a free country because
Some drive on the right and some on the left
As ladies on their scooters cover up
So that their skin may be as fair as fair
Amid Hanoi's International Green Week
With 600 domestic and foreign businesses participating
Whilst also in Hanoi the Party General Secretary 
Encourages the National Youth Union Congress
To combat poverty, backwardness and bigoted
Individualism
Where now Doi Moi ?
Perhaps great Mekong may shuffle off the mortal coil
Of yet another little system having had its day
In the sunshine of Vietnam
And return in blessing to the giving and receiving
Of the midnight of New Year
When life is handed down in words of Giao Thua
That everyone may say Chuc Mung Nam Moi
And mean it from the bottom of their hearts
To feast together with their ancestors
In eating Tet with them
Even in Duyen Hai
Where mighty Mekong rolls along
Down to the Eastern Sea
 Where with Chi Tu Be and Bich
And in Long Toan B and many more
The people of the future, now but children,
Dance to unfamiliar tunes and yet
With joy in shining eyes and smiling smiles
And little bows of deference and courtesy
They beat the gong for exercise routine
And say Xin Chao, Cam on and Hen gap lai
But 'later' is so sad when all the stamps are licked
And all the cards are sent
And kindness and thanksgiving overwhelm
With the Certificates in Vietnamese
From the People's Committee and Provincial
Education Department
And tears well up enough to fill
The Mekong ten times o'er
And water swaying  bamboos
On windy nights with moonlight overhead
To realise again
Partir c'est mourir un peu
C'est mourir a ce qu'on aime:
On laisse un peu de soi-meme
En toute heure et dans tout lieu
Yet deep inside to know
That men may come and men may go
But those who shine and do not burn
Plant seeds which last for ever.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever. 
The Brook (1864) 

If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer 
Than this world dreams of. 
The Passing of Arthur (1869)

Our little systems have their day;
They have their day and cease to be:
They are but broken lights of thee,
And, thou, O Lord, art more than they. 
In Memoriam (1850)

Till the war-drum throbb’d no longer,and the battle flags were furl’d
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.
Locksley Hall (1842)

Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.
Locksley Hall (1842)

‘Partir c’est mourir un peu……..’
Edmond Haraucourt ‘Seul(1891), Rondel de l’Adieu’
 
‘Luceo non uro’ ‘I shine not burn’ 
The Latin motto of the Clan MacKenzie