"THE GOLDEN AGE" "Why must we need bigger eyes, said the Annamites," "or a smaller nose with these almond eyes that we have?" "We have built the Great Buddha of Hanoi, a bronze God, with a life-like face and as tall as a tower." "We have built on the highway to Saigon from Cao Bang, a pagoda where, under a jade tower, lay the poets that sang of patriotism and love." "The holy men that live among the men with generosity and purity." "The heroes that died to free us from the Cambodians," "Siamese, and the Chinese." "Nothing is as close to the light as the colors of our silk robes." "With our hair in buns and pointed hats, and wide pants and colorful blouses." "We are yellow, flat faced, short and ugly." "Yet, we work on bronze and silk." "And when French came to take our Hanoi, our Hua Hin, our cities of wooden palaces, our ports full of bamboo, our reed ships, our rice and fish markets." "Still, with these almond eyes we've learned to die, thousands upon thousands, to block their way." "They are our masters now, but tomorrow... who knows?" "A CHILD IS BORN" "IN TEXAS" "IN 1908" "...AND THE CHILD BECAME A MAN" "...AND THE MAN BECAME PRESIDENT" "HANOI TUESDAY, DECEMBER THE 13TH" "WE CONVERT HATRED INTO POWER" "HATRED INTO POWER!" "HATRED INTO POWER!" "HATRED INTO POWER!" "Also, the poor Annamites fought and will fight again, as only the bravest can do, the ones that live off rice and fish, and dress in silk, far away... in Asia, on the shoreline," "below China."