When you are told that you will be visiting a mausoleum
Specifically the one of a questionably celibate Vietnamese communist leader
Do not think twice
Hanoi is Vietnam’s D.C
The mausoleum is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Do not question your guide when he tells you
Bring your camera and bags
Do not question the guards when he tells you
All are prohibited
Leave your cash, ID, camera, and voice with your guide
All are prohibited
They will wake the resting leader
Do not shiver when you step into the stone
Tell yourself
It just seems cold because
The heat index outside is come celsius degree
That only means hot to you
Ignore the thought that the temperate seems to be
More for the dead than for the living
Ignore all the signs that say
There is a preserved body in the next room
Tell yourself
He will be under stone
When you turn the corner
Do not meet eyes with Ho Chi Minh
When you hyperventilate
Do not meet eyes with the guards
Avoid their bayonets
You do not want to share a coffin
With a man who has been preserved
40 years too long
When your legs go numb
Stiff like the ones you have come to revere
Do not grab the mourner next to you
Sexual advances are not to be viewed
By celibate Uncle Ho
Focus on the stone wall
Try not to think about the hammer and sickle engraved on the wall
Try not to think about the boy engraved on your fovea
Try not to think about Ho Chi Minh
Was on the other side of your first
Face-to-face encounter
With a dead body
ad hoc 