please give me back , a poem by hoàng minh nhân ( we promise one another / poems from an asian war / the indochina mobile education project -- washington d.c.1971.)

we promise one another / poems from an asian war
published by don luce -- john c. schafer & j. chagnon
washington d.c. 1971


                                  please give me back
                                            a poem by hoàng minh nhân


                       This poem and also 'A Dream Which Has Withered' were written
                       by a twenty year old student.  His mother is a refugee and lives
                       on the outskirts of Đà nẵng.  His father died of tuberculosis last
                       spring (1971) in a 'Rehabilitation  Center' in Quảng nam Province,
                       South Vietnam.   Accused of being a 'VC'( member of the Việt Cộng
                              Infrastructure), his father spent three years chained to the wall
                       of his cell before he finally died.  Two sibblings have also met
                       tragic deaths from the hand of war: a  younger sister killed by
                       American bombing and an older brother shot by Americans during
                       an operation in Quảng nam.  This student has wandered all over
                       South Vietnam, going to school for a year is one town and then
                       a year in another, looking for ways to support himself and his 
                       family.  He continues to write stories and poems while attending
                       the University of Dalat.

                                                                   PLEASE GIVE ME BACK
                                                                                             by Hoàng Minh Nhân
                                                                           (p.27  WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER)

                    People have said a lot
             About the countryside
             In difficult and lofty phrases
             With feelings dark as night
             Cryptic or bitter
             As the words of a lover betrayed.

             But I would like now to say some simple things,
             Simple as a field of rice or sweet potatoes,
             Or a silent early morning.
             Please let me breathe again
             The air of yesterday,
             Let children frolic in the sun
             With kites over bamboo bridges,

              Just a narrow little space will be enough,
              Four rows of bamboo trees surrounding;
              And leave a little space for an entrance,
              A place for a girl and boy to tell the story of the moon,
              For old woman with babies to gather and chatter.


              Please give me back these things I' ve mentioned
              A story so simple
              As a bird' s unbroken song,
              As a mother,
              As a baby
              As the life of long age the poet used to tell ...

               hmn
                           (p 26 -. 28   WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER)