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Cool Stars – Poetry from Vietnam

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Cool Stars – Poetry from Vietnam

Palm leaves accidentally touched my hand

Palm leaves were like cool hands

[author title=”Hoang Vu Thuat ” image=”https://sindhcourier.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Poet-Hoang-Vu-Thuat-Vietnam-Sindh-Courier.jpeg”]Poet Hoang Vu Thuat was born on January 10, 1945 at Thach Xa Ha Village, Hong Thuy Commune, Le Thuy District, Quang Binh Province of Vietnam. He is member of Vietnam Writers’ Association and author of 16 collections of poems and one volume of Literary Criticism. He participated in many international exchanges in Hanoi, at the Vietnam National Association of Arts and Literature. He has travelled to Russia, China, America and European countries, Japan and some Asian countries. Awards: Six Luu Trong Lu Literature and Art Awards of Quang Binh province; Vietnam Writers’ Association award for the poem collection of Thap Nghieng; Award of Van Nghe newspaper, Quan Doi newspaper and other Awards. [/author]

 

Cool Stars

Palm leaves on the roadside touched my hand

Those memories were far away, cannot remember anymore

I gently reminded the old poems

Poems about a childhood

After your words, carefree distance

 

The deep sky lit up thousands of stars

The deep land lit up thousands of palm leaves

Stars suddenly slit the sky

Just like a poem

You gently reminded and cannot remember anymore

Who remembered all the stars?

Shined in the vast sky

 

Palm leaves accidentally touched my hand

Palm leaves were like cool hands

Stars would turn off

Those poems were back again

As I were back again

In the song you would sing tomorrow

In the middle of real life

Shine a – star – you

As your hands

Eased my aching heart

Innocent old poems how can you remember

Tomorrow you would forget

 

Then tomorrow the quiet distance

Live with me full of energy

Then tomorrow

Hands gentle as palm leaves

Palm leaves will twinkle as blue stars

Remind about poems from that time

Long-suffering poems

 

Maybe the birds would fly back

Chirp in front of the alley

Maybe and lots of possible things

That I only believe in one thing

The road will bloom with thousands of green palm leaves

Brilliant night with thousands of cool stars

Read on Packs of Cigarette  

Packs of cigarette on the table

As the dead cicadas that burned the fire of last season

I found something unclear

Maybe the lonely sadness

White nights crossed the blue hair

Actively forgot

Success and failure after a lifetime of hard work

 

Stack packs of cigarette on top of each other

As people build brick houses

I tried to rearrange my thoughts

Around the ashtray

A few cigarettes burned unfinished

The days were light and airy

 

Why always touched the silence

Suddenly sounds of fallen trains in the alley

Rains far away from home

Dew floated in the street

I have a girl to remember

 

Many other things else

I picked it up and dropped it

Sometimes I feel that I am likely a pack of cigarette

Empty

Wanting to crush and throw it away

Coconut Tree on Cape of Cua Tung*

The chain trees of the same my time had gone

Only a tree standing there

On snout of the land reaching out to the sea

The chain trees of the same my time had gone

I suddenly heard the waves whispering

 

Waves saying these days and nights

Putting hands on the tree trunk

I feel my hands burned

Deep bomb wound that could not be healed anymore

The answer that coconut told me

 

The chain trees of the same my time had gone

Only a tree standing there

Many shaded sunk in the rock soil

The trees of the same time have gone

I suddenly heard the wind whisper

The chain trees of the same my time had gone

I suddenly heard the wind whisper

 

The wind saying these days and nights

Green leaves full of tears

I bent down and touched the soil

Oh the bright red soil

Soil answered me

 

The chain trees of the same my time had gone

Only a tree standing there

Rain and sun pouring over

Pouring the storm

Many couples sitting under this tree

Coconut leaves cooling the arms

Fishermen going to the sea

They stood on the boat bow

The form of coconut tress

On snout of the land reaching out to the sea

____________________

  • CUA TUNG is the beach of the middle region of Vietnam

 (Poems translated into English by Khanh Phuong)