Score #23: Visualize a flow inside or outside yourself

The Story of Khon Pi Loung (a section of the Mekong river)

An elderly anonymous poet was sailing with villagers along the Mekong river. He describes the story of Phaya Pla (the queen fish),  swimming against the current to pay homage to “Pha Buddhabath Wen Pla”, the Buddha’s footprint shaped like the soles of feet located at the river’s source in the Himalayas. He lets his imagination flow with the Mekong river which is full of rapids and cliffs. Along with the forms they create in nature, the rapids are named according to seasonal changes. The river, shaped millions of years ago in earth’s volcanic rocks, is the home and shelter of fish and other living beings – ecosystems that are about to be destroyed due to the building of a giant wall to dam the river.  The old poet prophesied about the future: When the sacred rapids are destroyed, people will be homeless, animals big and small will die. Ecosystems will disappear.

Score and text by U Bat Sat, living in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Painting by Søssa Jørgensen, living in Skiptvet, Norway.
Watercolor on paper.