They used to be soldiers
They are poets, too
They sang in the forest.
And today by the Red River
We sing all together the eternal love song for them.
Kieu Bich Hau, a renowned poet and writer from Vietnam, the Land of Blue Dragon, shares her poems
Kieu Bich Hau is the member of Vietnam Writers’ Association, Editor of “Writer & Life” magazine of Vietnam Writers Association, Media Director of SaVipharm and Founder and Head of Hanoi Female Translators. She has won 9 Awards in Literature. She has published 25 books of prose, poetry, and essay in Vietnam, Italy, and Canada. Her poems and short stories have been translated into eighteen foreign languages including English, Italian, Korean, Russian, Marathi, Hindi, Romanian, Hungarian, Spanish, Portuguese, Nepali, Uzbek, French, German, Turkish, Chinese, Montenegrin, and Arabic. Email: kieubichhau@gmail.com
The song of Red River
They used to be soldiers
They are poets, too
They sang in the forest
Their tears fell on sacrificed comrades after battles
Beyond the death,
Beyond the life
Beyond the war
They have lived that poetry trend of Vietnam
Forever Vietnam.
And today by the Red River
We sing all together the eternal love song for them.
***
The anger
It’s alright, just let it out
Shout at me
Release the blind rage
That has long built up
In your heart, your mind
Your every cell
Just shout at me,
Use your angry eyes,
Use the fire,
With the light that burns
My skin, my hair, my soul
The anger of this earth
The anger from pain and despair
From repressed feelings
From bearing the sins of being human…
And you are free
And I will hug you in my trembling arms
And all tears will flow
In a current into the Blue Danube,
Into the Red River,
Into all
And we melt into that river
Remaining forever
Flowing into the universe
We are a giant tear
Scattered
In the universe.
***
How to hold this longing?
I wish to store all these tormented memories
In a secret box.
Hide it inside me
So I can live normally
But every night it wakes me up
In a sweet, painful longing for you
Why we are together,
At the same time very far away?
I lull my heart every night,
Pretend to see the sweetness in the lost proximity
In the lost kisses
The lost touches…
The regret of all those losses
Will it drown me in an ocean of misery?
The beauty of love
Will it burn away this heart?
***
The divine emptiness
“Be present” (HJB)
Why we meet?
Then be forced to part…
Why full moon?
Then crescent moon…
Why you fill me?
Then let me go
The emptiness
Fills me again
The invisible Tantra intimacy
Reveals itself
At night
And I feel
I am the one.
I can be everyone
At day
Only the emptiness
Appears
When it’s not night or day
When I am not here or there
I am divided
To be in three worlds,
Three states
Awaken to be no one
Nowhere
Beyond the timeline
What remains
The sensation of ever Samadhi
Within my stillness.
What remains
Just the scent of a fresh mint leaf
That stirs my spirit
Love in moonlight
Love in sunshine
Love is source of endless energy
Love is religion of all human beings.
***
Purification
Grows from the mud of samsara
The lotus blooms into endless love verses
Each petal contains a verse
Continues to open
Open
Open more…
When all other people read those verses
The happiness will be released
The light will shine over
The love grows inside all hearts
From a golden seed,
Leave the emptiness in me
A purification
Just being here right now
________________
Read: Empty wine jar – Poetry from Vietnam
