Poem: Khuc Hanh Tuyen, mountains and rivers
Khuc Hanh Tuyen, mountains and rivers
split rivers and mountains: night covered face
the rain wraps a towel in the deep of childhood
split the blind body in two
Which cemetery? bury each other?
split the canal ventricle, shallow ditch
The scent of hair is missing the shoulder
I thought someone was unjustly turned around
bones, flesh, afterlife, blood is very sad
split the wind: the tree of separation
Heart trauma with lips month, year
equal punishment for the memory of the jungle
The stream for a hundred years suddenly lost its source.
1993
This poem was put to music by musician Tran Duy Duc into the song Stream of Hundred Years.
Poem: There is no war, but also a couple
Not a war but also a couple
Just remembering people is enough for a lifetime
bird to the sea corner. The ball sails
My heart is low. lonely heart
not a war but also a couple.
Just remembering people is enough for a lifetime
Afternoon blanket, pillow lack of steam who!
I’m going to leave a childish soul
I am deeply sad tomorrow.
Just remembering people is enough for a lifetime
Do you still have a mirror to mark the throne?
Dreaming of fragrant hair
and, the sky is so blue it’s creepy.
Just remembering people is enough for a lifetime
how many fingers left over to split the workpiece!
(Giving each other the finger without the ring)
and the fading of my age.
Just remembering people is enough for a lifetime
like heaven misses the earth (so far away.)
sunshine and rain forever remember the waiting veranda
reply memo. Le miss lips.
*
I only miss you, the river is dry enough
What to say is different from the next life.
sometimes it feels warm on the skin, flesh
It’s like whoever goes away comes back.
2.1990
This poem has been put to music by musician Tran Duy Duc into the song Only remembering people is enough for a lifetime.
Poem: Thank you
Thank you
Thank you child from heaven,
Follow me into the sea, save my life.
Thank you for your beautiful rainy dream,
Follow me to the mountain, to the hill of love.
Thank you, my chest is deep and my lips are low,
give me salty grass, hundred times good leaves.
Thank you for the space to lie down,
traces around the traces of sadness in one place.
Thank you, my love is blind,
like a small worm crawling through a slumber.
Thank you, my soul soon regretted,
In the next life, please keep each other’s lives.
thank you… thank you…
This poem has been put to music by musician Tu Cong Phung into the song Keeping Life Together.
Poem: Six bowls, 70
Six bowls, 70
I passed through the night. rain
I saw in the bowl of lunch, I came back.
I go through the oath,
I saw my childhood war-torn.
I go through the blue
I can see sadness on the canvas.
I pass through the scent of incense,
feel like a dignified morning…the wound.
I go through the root, the source
see me. very dear. choose me wrong. broken!
I pass through the afterlife,
I see you, just waiting for each other, tired.
I go back in time,
see a little baby. when I was still… shut up.
I go through the dream,
see oh! six words is enough…seventy!
I go through life
I feel like scribbling away each line.
I follow me-the river…
(Nov. 2012)
This poem has been put to music by musician Khoa Nguyen into the song Afternoon I come home.
Poem: In the hands of the saint, there is my life
In the holy woman’s hands is my life
Ask God and you will be fine
I’m as sad as the old street
Each toe stopped breathing
lost the way. stop showing signs
Ask the sun and you will be fine
I’m as thin as a leaf, light as a cloud
Late night wind blows thousands of stories
heaven who am I or who?
Ask the wind and you will be good
the sight of me smoked. full of dust
I don’t know who doesn’t throw stones at me
you alone still fly on the treetops
ask hair! river of joys and sorrows
like I spent most of my life
exhausted brain. hear from the earth
distant call. oh holy lady
Ask your eyes and you will see a tall forest
the deep sea below. home night
the road of Skull Mountain, no one waits
I asked me: you, where are you?
ask lips! lips are salty
What’s wrong with rubbing my heart?
I just don’t have time for another life
The door is open but I can’t go back
ask heart! What does heart say?
Blood is still hidden sometimes
show you my soul is gone
behind the rows of lined trees
Ask God! he will answer
In the hands of the holy woman there is my life.
This poem has been put to music by musician Hoang Thanh Tam into a song of the same name.
Source: Du Tu Le, Where the world cannot understand, Witness literature published, 1989
Poem: Khuc Thuy Du
Khuc Thuy Du
1.
like a kingfisher
on a hundred-year spike
I lost my life
in the water of life
like a kingfisher
I often stop flying
looking up at the grave
crows eat human corpses
(of life ceded)
Which meal is better?
how can i say
like a kingfisher
I dive deep in the mud
in vain looking for meaning
for today’s love scene
on an unwashed corpse
on unmelted human flesh
on the dog’s arm
on a pig’s head
I live like a blind man
i live like crazy
I’m a kingfisher
diving to find my life square
on the quiet ground
no toothpicks come up
life is like a mushroom
get shorter every day
my soul is stuck
who makes people like me?
2.
smooth as death
as wild as childhood
never bloomed
on a flag that doesn’t fly
Her eyes are not closed
her hand does not speak
her curls at night
hold on to a long love
my chest is full of fire
let’s talk about life
What do I have left to live for?
let’s talk about life
when i’m no more
What will you bring?
to the other side of the world
Thuy and Thuy
I’m a headless ghost
I’m a bellyless ghost
I only have legs
Or just two hands?
groping for the body
groping for the heart
mixed with ammo shells
splattered with shrapnel
Thuy and Thuy
I never asked
why do we love each other
why are your lips hot
Why are your hands cold?
Why is my body shaking?
why is the leg unstable?
why i beg you
let me breathe
with my sad chest
give me a hug
you, equal to death
love is like a knife
he stabbed himself, slipped
Thuy and Thuy
nothing makes sense anymore
apart from my love
already wet the body
I lull you to sleep smell
wait for a magical hour
(03-68)
This poem has been put together by musician Anh Bang into a song of the same name. Regarding the title of the poem, Thuy is the personal name of Ms. Thuy Chau, the author’s ex-wife, and Du is taken from his pen name.
Source: Poetry Du Tu Le (1967-1972), Gist Vang Cuu Ngoc published, Saigon, 1972
Poem: Night, miss the Saigon moon
Night, miss the Saigon moon
At night, following the tracks of a wheelchair
I am forever in the land of the golden youth
Find me a double-row light
Lost at the end of the street covered with grass and trees
Imagine my soul flying rain
I call drums every day, far away
The night follows the wheel through
Miss you highway miss Green Restaurant
Miss you needle only smelling love
Good afternoon, good afternoon class in bamboo groves
Missing the sad rain all over Thi Nghe
Sunny Truong Minh Gian at noon in the summer of Freedom
Miss your friends’ hometown cemetery
Remember the sad soldier statue dusting the road
At night, following the tracks of a wheelchair
I’m far away from the land of sorrow, which wharf?
1978
This poem was put to music by musician Pham Dinh Chuong into a song of the same name.
Poem: 67, Extra song for Huyen Chau
67, Extra song for Huyen Chau
My happiness from the big water days
It’s raining quickly, wipe your face with your hands
Old sparrows with gray tiles in the afternoon
The sky is pale and the feet are not coming back
The plum tree blooms with each leaf’s fingers
The cradle of warm grass and human skin
I shivered from your eyes
Dark lips are dry from the time I wanted to ask for a kiss
Summer days when it’s not cold
When you don’t, you turn your face crazy
Hands looking at incense bring the smell of plated hair
The tamarind tree is far away from the whispering memories
That afternoon, whose feet were still chirping
Whose words brought heaven and earth closer
Memories of me from the broken days
Take care to collect each fallen stalk
The little cricket grew up singing
When the night comes, the voice is more painful
The tree of youth also germinated in the morning
The leaves of injustice describe the eaves of the people
I’m weak from those who are windy
Sad cricket commits suicide in the middle of the night
The old sparrow also passed away quietly
The old tamarind tree is old and grieving
I was there, the riverbank was still wet with sand
The wave of love claps forever a forgotten sound.
1967
This poem was put to music by musician Tu Cong Phung into the song On the top of melancholy love.
Poem: When I die, take me to the sea
When I die I take it out to sea
When I die I take it out to sea
exile without a grave
burying strange soil, my bones and bones are hard to break
Why don’t you go back to your hometown
When I die I take it out to sea
Water against the current will push the body away
The other side of the sea is my hometown
The old bamboo groves are still green
When I die I take it out to sea
and remember not to rush to rub my eyes
give me the direction of my hometown for the last time
maybe my body won’t arrive
When I die I take it out to sea
Don’t hesitate for fear of me
years ago, how many people liked fish?
what’s wrong with a bent body?
When I die I take it out to sea
let me see my children again
let me see their tears fall
from eyes that were sadder than darkness
When I die I take it out to sea
and on the way remember to sing the national anthem
oh long time no one sings anymore
(the song is like a ghost now)
When I die, the sadness is over
the ultimate exile with the soul.
12-77
This poem was put to music by musician Pham Dinh Chuong into a song of the same name.
Poem: K. His own song
K. His own song
I’m as far away from you as mountains and rivers
you on the other side of the stream? – the other side of the forest
I’m on the other side of the sun? – the other side of the wind
I am a stream of dew, up, immense
I am as far away from you as the east sea
Afternoon shining afternoon, spreading goods
The trees mark the day you came
died from a rainy night
I’m far away from greedy lips
I know: then I’m like a bird
Stop stirring up why
My soul is already ashes
I’m far away from good eyes
My garden is so cold that it’s desolate
I’m so far away, how do I know?
capital I have left: the mess
I’m far away at the airport
My soul dunes and footprints
I’m happy in another life, how can I understand?
I live silently like grass
I’m far away from tear gas
Tomorrow love will leave this heart
I don’t go to the tree line in the afternoon
leaning down to me: each pig
I’m far away from people, happy
Fingered hand has been buried
Fingerless hand without a ring
have a finger for my lips
I am far away from people from far away
Spring flowers have withered, porch
In the old street, I tied a couple of braids
where is the hair now? – Where is the soul?
I’m far away from the love of injustice
My soul is dry with strings
the blood I sent in the letter
Although dead, there are still complaints
I’m far away with a scent
late beach, soul snail, lost in paradise
remember who fainted on the shoulder
Where is the rain? – like a wound
This poem has been put to music by musician Dang Khanh into the song K. Khuc by Le.