Ghosts of Cambodia

I walked the river line

Where the reeds still lean and pray

In the dust of broken yards

I heard the old names say

Stone by stone, the market sleeps

With fruit-marks in the air

I can almost see the hands

That made a life out there

And the past won't stay buried

It keeps its footsteps near

Every cracked red wall

Still holds a sigh I hear

Ghosts of Cambodia

Hold the morning whole

Ghosts of Cambodia

In the dust and gold

What we were

What we lost

Still burns inside

Still comes across

Rice fields in the hot sun

Like mirrors made of time

Children by the canal bank

Laughing in a line

Every door had a heartbeat

Every bowl had its song

Before the years came down hard

And tore the days along

But the earth remembers

Even when we don't

Every seed beneath the dark

Says what the silence won't

Ghosts of Cambodia

Hold the morning whole

Ghosts of Cambodia

In the dust and gold

What we were

What we lost

Still burns inside

Still comes across

Let the temple shadows rise

Let the jasmine cross the night

Let the mothers, let the daughters

Carry forward light

Not the ruin, not the shame

Not the hand that broke the bread

Just the living, just the rising

Just the voices left unsaid

Ghosts of Cambodia

Hold the morning whole

Ghosts of Cambodia

In the dust and gold

What we were

What we will be

Still burns inside

Still lives in me

I hear you in the rain

I hear you in the trees

Cambodia, Cambodia

Stay with me, please