Thephong's poems: 'the warrior's homecoming', a poem by david lan pham -- art2all.net

the warrior's homecoming by david lan pham
art2all.net

the warrior 's homecoming
by david lan pham

Peace re -established,
The warrior returns home.
He walks on the deserted path
His body is partly mutilated.

The village bamboo hedge is burnt,
His home reduced into ash;
His friends separate from one another.
Everybody complains.

For the cause of his Fatherland,
He sacrificed blood and parts of his body,
Youth, hope,
And his juvenile love.

Returning to his origin,
He deems peace is reigning,
Everybody is happy.
What a surprise!
Sobs, mourings,
Imprisonment, oppression
Are found everywhere
In his lovely Vietnam.

No more war!
But no real peace!
The war continues
Via delirious complaints.

Petrified, the warrior sits
By his mother' s grave,
Sobbing and holding hid face in his hands.
His mother remains silent.

On the way home,
He deems he'll take car of his mother,
Share joy and bitterness with her
In her twilight years.

What a sorrow!
His mother left the world
Without saying good- bye.
It's no doubt she regretted
Not to see her dear son
The last day of her life.

From the bloody battlefields,
The warrior is still alive
Although some drop of his bloods
Were deeply absorbed in the entrails of his Fatherland.

In his quiet village
His mother passed away.
So dis his fiancee,
Leaving an unfinished love symphony
And her last farewell words
Which are tragic and grievous.

How about his friends?
They've already gone
To a certain horizon
Without any promise of returning.

In a stupor the warrior
Meanders around the village temple,
And finds his lonesome rest
In the shade of the banian tree.

During his fatigue sleep,
Due to hunger and suffering,
He has a nightmare, seeing
Blood, fire and destruction.

david lan pham F.A.B.I.

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