ancient gate at Hue

ancient gate at Hue
my finger traces the scar—
fifty caliber?

Hue is the former capitol of Imperial Vietnam and also the site of one of the [longest, bloodiest, and most ferocious battles of the Vietnam War](http://www.historynet.com/tet-what-really-happened-at-hue.htm) when the NVA laid siege to the city during the infamous Tet Offensive of 1968. It was a beautiful yet sombre place to visit. While wandering around I felt similar emotions to those felt visiting Gettysburg and Antietam which is to say a mixture of emotions and an uncertainty of which are the "right" emotions to be feeling from a panoply that includes (for me at least)—honor, pride, horror, fear, cowardice, sadness, luck, melancholy, guilt, anger, resignation, ambivalence, deja vu...