Over three decades ago,
Father along with my uncle Phe,
Decided that in order for us to have a better life,
We must escape the city of Saigon.
The escape entails us leaving our homes,
Leaving mother and little sister Ti behind,
Treading through the mashes,
Boarding a rusty old ship,
And sailing across the South China Sea.
I was about five at the time,
And still have some memories,
Of that frightening ordeal.
It would occur at night,
Father and I,
Along with my two cousins,
Danh and Trinh,
Would have board,
That rickety old boat one daunting evening,
Risk our lives to cross over.
Normally, an escape like this,
would be lead by a ship captain.
The rusty old ship,
would only be strong enough,
to carry us over,
And then discarded at sea,
once it reaches it's destination.
Sometimes, the engine of the old ships would die,
in the middle of the ocean.
Some are lost at sea for weeks,
leaving the boat dwellers,
Starved, Thirsty and disillusioned.
When our engine broke down,
And we drifted for days,
We all just had to patiently wait.
Once, there was a gigantic oil tanker,
That passed us by.
We screamed at the top of our lungs,
But to no avail, it kept on going.
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