we promise one another : poems from an asian war : a poem by hoàng minh nhân

we promise one another
poems from  an asian war
don luce & ... selected, printed, usa, 1971



                                       a dream  which has withered

                                         by hoàng minh nhân

                                              OF THE SAME  MOTHER
                               The Vietnamese forbid fracticide with a saying;
                                      ' Let them fight outsiders if they are smart and strong,
                                     but roosters of the same mother  must not battle each other .'

     [ This poem is  written for the chilfren of the future, for the children of the future, for the generation  which after the wreckage ]

                        The day I grew up, 
                        Near my father, near my mother,
                        Near my sister, near my  brother,
                        I only knew how to plant mulberry trees,
                        And cultivate rice; 
                        And then one day war by chance came
                        And tramples on my native village.

                        People in the name of the father land
                        People in the name of the man,
                        People in the name of freedom
                        People in the name of happiness,
                        Spy on each other, destroy each other.
                        My father went up into the mountains,
                        My mother waits and waits,
                        My brother reists the war,
                        My uncle is a nationalist;
                        People teach me how to kill, to cut off heads --
                        All in the names of love,
                        Of philanthropy, of compassion,
                        Fathers, mothers, wives, children, whole villages
                        Turn into strangers,
                        and becomes strangers,
                        And become enemies,
                        People teach me to bear grudges, to resent,
                        But I only want to be a husband,
                        A father, with a wife, with a young son
                        Who knows how to say the two words : Việt  nam --
                        From Cao Bằng to the seas of Thailand,
                        But my dream is a small trifle,
                        Dim, uncertain, as the days pass.


                       hoàng minh nhân

                        -----

                    < We promise one another -  poems from an asian war.
                        selected, translated, published by don luce + ... , usa 1971. 
                         p.  77- 78 >