south vietnam the baby in the arms of the american nurse - poems by the phong - 3

south vietnam the baby in the arms
of the american nurse, poems by the phong-
dai nam van hien books, saigon 1970

                      WILL VIETNAM BECOME THE 51 STATE
                                                OF AMERICA ?    3
                                                           by  the phong
                                             TRANSLATED BY ĐÀM XUÂN CẬN


I wonder
             whether it is time
                            for  our country to become the 51 st State of America ?
If this is the case
             the families of dead soldiers
                         will be better cared for
  When we awake in the morning
            not killed by the enemy rockets
 Any of us
             your wife
                       my sweetheart
                              might still be killed
                                   being ran over by military trucks
 ( The crime perpetrators are the GI's arrogant and stupid as gorilles )

There are
              in Công Lý St. or any other big road in Saigon
Scored of fatal accidents
              caused by their wanton recklessness
 If our country becomes the 51st  State
                something will be done about  it
As things stand now
                 the criminal GI driver
                           does not bother to stop
                               and he gets away  with it
                                     to his heart's content
I was myslelf a witness
                  that time people surrounded a GI
 Prefectly calm
                  two hands on his lips
                          he screamed abuse
                                       to the two victims
 And old woman of about sixty vomiting blood
                                                               fainting
A teenage boy shaken with convulsions
                    his eyes popped out
                                     collapsed on the gutter  

My friend
           if you see this
                    how can you bear it ?
 The damned Gi stood there
            threatening the Vietnamese policemen
I did not konw English
           to tell him to shut up
 The policemen
            pointed a pistol at him
                           asked him to produce his papers
 But he disarmed him
              sneering at the people around
                          laughing
                                   he got in his car
                                                 and drove off
 Only after a distance
                he threw back the pistol
                            in disgust
I turned my eyes away
                         hurt
                               angry
                                        burning with indignation 
That my people were new being killed off
                 by bombs and rockets and so-called traffic accidents
 In the land of our fathers.

My friend look out and you will find reckless GI drivers
                                                             let loose on the roads

I wonder
           what a Westerner has to say about this
Surely he will tell  us to demand justice for the victims
           and remind us of what happened
                     in occupied France in the Second World War

 Those days the facist drivers also drove recklessly
                                                 killing Parisians
 But the Frenchmen were united in their just idignation
             They rushed to the road
                       Whenever a slaughter took place
                                   Surrounded the criminal
                                               Killed him with fists, knives and clubs ...
              ( One  can only claim justice 
                               if one has the guts to stand up and fight )
If the same Parisians were here
              they would pity us
                        and teach us to hate
Do you know, my friend
             the GI also drive like  mad  inside the Tân Sơn Nhất  Airbase
As if they were engaged in a race against aircrafts
 They caused  many, many deaths
             the victims were indifferently Vietnamese civilians
 Every time
           the bastard involved did not stop
                                 to see what he had done
 Even if an  American MP was at hand 
           to carry out an investigation
Nothing would come out of it
                         I tell you abslolutely nothing ...
 I wonder if our country became the 51 st  State of America
 I know you will not like the idea
                  I understand your feelings perfectly
 But then we will enjoy come justice
                  we will receive aid and all sorts of things
I know you will tell me
                 about our  5000 year long history
 I know you will tell me
               the American way of life is nothing short of ghastly
 Calm down my friend
               don' t you know the war being waged in our country
                                                  is financed by American dollars
So is our own Presidential Election
                this is the truth
                          pure et simple
So would you mind telling me
               what you really want ?
We are so thoroughly ' Americanized  '
                 our city dwellers will  suffer terribly
 If they are deprived of refrigerators, washing machines or even toasters ...
A Honda motorbike is a must for any boy and girl
 Even our underpaid soldier has got a taste for American cigarettes
( Another reason is the price of a local cigarette pack is threefold now )
 In only three years
              our life has been ' revolutionized  '
 Even our basic diet
              our culture itself
                         does not remain the same
 Vietnmaese girls definitely like GI' s
               because of their money
Miniskirted bar girls
              could not care less for husbands and kids
 These ' small ' incidents are reported daily in newspapers
 I read of one soldier who brought his baby  child to an American office
 He wanted to look for his wife
                 following a tip of his neighbours
The child cried out
                 he felt so humiliated 
                          but still got some hope
When the child waved to his mother
                 who stood up the balcony
                                 embracing a GI
Undisturbed
               she just turned away
                          walked inside
                                  still holding the GI
With a voice not quite that of a human
                 he shouted to her
                           untill the guard chased him away
 He looked up the sky was pitch dark
                hope was gone
( He did not get a fair deal
               To start with
                        his wife as pretty bad sort of a woman )
The tearful man
              took the child home
                         broken completely
 Lulling his child into sleep
                 he gently put a blanket on him
 Kissing him
                  he looked at the little creature
                                     for the last time
Scribbling a few words
                  Then she shot himself through the head
                                                      and died instantly
It was curfew time
                the neighbours must wait untill the next morning
To report to the police what happened ...
 On the table
               was his last letter
                       addressed to friends and relatives :
" ... My wife deserted me
                 because I could not support her
                             Without her
                                        I could not fulfill my duty to my son
                                               I voluntarily pit an end to my life ... "
 Obviously he was too weak a man
                                  Verily  none can blame him
 Of course
                weakness could not be the motive of the death of this Buddhist nun student
 She burned herself
                  not because of personnal despair
                           she had none of it
 She died
              out of her love for her country and people
 She died ofter writing three letters
                 one for her parents
                          one for the people of her faith
                                    one for LBJ United States

Let us read some of her words "
'... Please read Vietnamese history
                                  Please have  pity on my people
                                               Please have pity on the families of dead GI' s 
 We have been thrusted
             into this dirty war
Countless will have to die
               We must live by " borrowed slogans "
 What honour can you claim
              n this war without honour ?
 What right can you claim to be here
                  in the name of friendship ?
 We realise you want domination
                        through economic means
I choose death
               appeal to you to stop all this
                               in  the name of humanity
I choose death
              to appeal to you
                    to stop the bombing of North  and South Vietnam
                    to withdraw foreign troops
                   to give independence back to my country
I appeal to you 
                   to help us to rebuild our country
                   ruined by your weapons
I die
       in the  cause of peace ... "    *

It is too painful for us, the living
                   to scrutinise the words of a dead person
In fact
  our country was caught between two contending forces :
                                      the capitalists nad the communists
 I cannot have any synmpathy for either
                  they are both equally oppressive
 We are weak
          we  are enchained
                        and ruined
                              and plundered ...

Meanwhile
            those who are to die
                                 will die
Those who live
        remain dumb and deaf
 O revolutionaries
            I want to spit on youe face
 What 's  the use of all these senseless killings
            when the pioneers set put to explore the moon
O two-cent politicians
              stop  rubbing slogans into our ears
                                              tell us the feets
War benefits industrry
                          war feeds on war
                                  it seems Vietnam will be linked with
                                             the US untill the end of  time
 Our nurse gives us
                            cans of milk
                                  and bullets
                                       to play with
 Every family raises American chickens
                        to earn some extra money
 Each egg can be sold at fifteen piasters
                                 the old price of ten
( Vietnamese currency drops in value every day )
We meet say thank  you
                         to war
                               so familiar yet so strange
                                                 so painful yet so good
It furnishes us with a hell of new jobs
                      Before the coming of the Americans
 There was a man who earned his living as a butcher-cum-hired thug
Now his life is easier
                   he owns a car and he smoke cigars
( Every day he drives to mortuary to process American bodies )
 He shaves their heads and disposes of their bowels. 
At the rate of one thousand piasters per hour
 The paper  yesterday
                      wrote that the millionaire became mad
Wearing weird clothes of all colors
                         holding all sorts of flags

He cried
                he shouted
                        for  peace
                Ironically
                      such a man need peace that badly
 Another victim of war
                     s General  Dương Văn Đức
well known for his tougthness
 Dressed in civilian clothes
              he  walked Saigon streets
 Screaming painfully
                    delivering speeches
                                        boozing
He stopped the traffic at the middle of the road
                  urinated on the Assembly House of  Representatives
 Do you realise
                  how sad we have become ?
 Tomorrow
                  will we have to elect a Governor ?
                                  will Vietnam be wiped off the map ?
 People only mention Saigon
                              and Hanoi then 
O dear dead souls
                   you do not know lucky  you are
You do not have to see all these painful things
                      all the wreaths and coffins being carried to the  cemeteries
 Our sadness
              is longer than rivers bigger than the seas ...

Will Vietnam become the 51 st State ?
               Will   it be  the bastion of Asian communism?
                      Will it be the same and one country again ?
Answer, damn you
                              prosperous America ?
 Speak, damn you
                              mighty Russia  and  Red China . []

SAIGON OCT, 30 , 1968

 poem by the phong

-------
* PHAN THỊ MAI ,  alias  THICH NỮ  NHẤT CHI MAI,  a student at Faculty of Liberal Arts ,  VAN HẠNH  University ,   burned hrself to the death on the 16 th of May, 1967,  at TỪ NGHIÊM Pagoda, Saigon, South Vietnam.

from  : SOUTH VIETNAM THE BABY IN THE ARMS OF THE AMERICAN NURSE,
 poems by THE PHONG ,  Dai Nam Van Hien Books, Saigon 1970 -  p.  47 -  57.