A QUIET KOREAN

South Korean man falls in love with North Korean songstress.
He’s fiftyish. Going on sixty. And lonely in Myanmar. Burma. Whatever.
She’s angelic. Her beauty ageless.
He gifts her cash, flowers, the works.
Doesn’t realize she remits it all back home to her handlers up in Pyongyang.
The cash anyhow. The flowers wilt in a vase.
Do they make love? That’s yet to be decided.
Still he’s there every evening at the nightclub applauding her every set.
Doesn’t realize his own government has her warbling act staked out.
Lying in wait for loners like him. Losers like him. Suckers like him.
She’s lovely. Young. A real Korean enchantress.
And he’s lonely. Has a wife back up in Seoul.
And a son with decent career prospects now.
But that’s long gone stale. Thirty years of the same old story.
So she hardly needs to encourage him, the singer does.
And she’s racking up points back home with her handlers.
A new apartment someday. Maybe even a car.
The guy’s own government has warned its citizens time and again.
Its overseas loners. About temptation setups like this.
It’s illegal. The cash. There are laws.
Aid and comfort to the blah blah blah.
He paces the plaza in front of Yangon’s Saint Mary’s Cathedral. Rangoon. Whatever.
Dares not trespass upon its sacred precincts.
Confession unthinkable. Redemption a blind alley.
He is being followed. Knows that now.
A shadowy figure. Seen him around the other seedy nightspots.
He is taken aside. In strictest confidence.
Who works for whom? Does it matter anymore?
An offer to spirit her out of the country.
Bangkok. Singapore. You name it.
Fifty grand. Cash.
Can he lay hands on it? He can lay hands on it.
But not his money. The plot thickens.
Company money. Bank money. And thickens.
He’s fiftyish. Going on sixty. And in love.
The future a desolation without her. Not worth living.
She’s, what, twenty-four. Twenty-five.
Will they ever make love? Will it ever happen?
Deal falls through. Scam from the beginning.
She was in on it from the get-go. Dissembler. Liar. Whore.
In the novel he dies a broken man. Shattered. Moral of story.
In the film she has a last-minute change of heart. Hollywood.
They pack up and make a break for the ferry landing. The End.
In this poem wife and son arrive in Yangon. Rangoon. Whatever.
With ultimatum and photo album of new baby grandson.
Come back home. Now. All will be forgiven.
Scandal averted. Never mentioned again.