The PATHYA VAT is a Cambodian form which consists of four lines (each with four syllables) where lines two and three rhyme. When a poem consists more than one stanza, the last line of the previous stanza rhymes with the second and third lines of the following one.

Cambodian poems are intended to be read aloud, recited or sung. Longer pathya vat poems are made by chaining, with the last line of each stanza rhyming with the second and third lines of the next.


Example by S. L. P. Van der Veer:

excerpt from A Poet's Dream

On a full moon
I stand alone,
bridge of worn stone
beneath my feet.

I have journeyed
through judgment’s heat,
through fear’s deceit,
through death’s shadow.

I have sought peace,
walked the narrows,
Sung the hallows
in many lands.