Delerium

The following was written 7-14, in the Dream Cafe at Sukhothai

7:06pm I sit here, at the Dream Café. A covered porch in front of an expensive guest house in the New City.

Dimly lit, all wooden, vines growing over the front. Crescent shapes cut in the support beams with dim lights inside. Delerium playing on the stereo – appropriate music to be played in the ruined city of Thailand’s first capital, representing their golden age.

I came for the dessert – 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream 1 scoop of chocolate, bathed in chocolate syrup – but will remember the drink.

“Stamina drink,” the menu said. Traditional medicine in the form of herbs and alcohol, steeped for months. Could I resist?

The taste reminded me why I dislike alcohol. A spicy, strong rum, that somehow seemed to defy gravity and sit right in my nostrils. A shock, and a cleaner, but luckily only a shot.

Will I fly? Or only levitate? Will I regain perfect sight?

Not yet.

Mosquitoes are fighting for their share.

Multiple herbal mixture formulas steeped in alcohol for several months, used in Thai medicine for protection from sickness and ailments.

• Formula 5 Rejuvination: Nourishes eye sight, nervous system, relieves pain from bad circulation, regenerative cure for the pubis.