Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Translated to English by Khanh Phuong
Brief biography: Hometown: Tan Uoc, Thanh Oai, Hanoi
Now living in Ha Dong District, Hanoi
Member of Vietnam Writers’ Association
Member of Hanoi Writers’ Association
Published literature works
Strange land – Poetry – National Culture Publishing House -1995
Premonition – Poetry – Youth Publishing House -2000
Desert flower – Poetry – Writers’ Association Publishing House -2004
City – Poetry – Writers’ Association Publishing House -2008
Standing cloud – Poetry – Writers’ Association Publishing House – 2011
The Voice of Time – Poetry – Writers’ Association Publishing House -2018
Literary Awards
– Nguyen Trai Art and Literature Prize in Ha Tay Province, 3rd (2001-2005)
– Second prize of Ha Tay poetry contest (2006-2007)
– Medal for the cause of Vietnamese literature and art
Confession: “I write about my experiences in life. Striving to write well, honestly towards the noble humanity”.
Happiness
I’ve lived almost my life to find happiness
Happiness is not seen
Only misfortune
Misfortune is like the fate
Following the life
I’ve lived almost my life
To find stars
Distant stars.
When there’s nothing left to dream about
Then happiness appeared
Stars appeared
And I have to pass a new quagmire.
Thunders still rang out on the horizon
As a thousand years ago
In the childhood
Listened to mother’s lullaby
I grew up looking for the life
Mother cried to see me off.
Where did the old thunders go?
My hair became white
Almost my life
I look at the life in bewilderment
I was born not knowing to sing
No joy
The life taught me
Must know to laugh when suffering
Must find joy when happiness is no longer there.
Joy is given to no one.
I understand that
Behind the life are pains
Behind pains are happiness
The life taught me
Humans are destructive to humans more than atomic bombs
Humans are generous to humans more than the deep ocean
Why?
No one answered what I asked.
On starry nights, I look up at the sky and count
My destiny star
That star is far away
And I’ve lived almost of my life
I am surprised that the moon is real
But my happiness is not yet reached its destination.
I live between two cliffs
On one side is youth
On one side is old
If to rise up, may find happiness
If to fall down on this side, may meet painful abyss
I try to rise up
Who can open arms to welcome me
Every morning the sun welcomes me in the east
At night the sky spreads stars to chat
Like that I go….
The second time I look for the life
The full life
Love, suffering and hope
This time, real happiness
Real red sun
The moonlight is as beautiful as a legend
In this world
People suffer more
And people are happier
And the most magical
Immortal humans
Even many funerals
And lots of cries
And I live the second time
More real than the first time.
In front of My Chau statue
Put the hands together and worship the headless statue
The incense stick burned red, the pain of many generations
To compassionate thousands of lifetimes
So she turned to the stone in the open sky.
With the forest
I met a friend once upon a time
To know that not young anymore
To know what the friend has, I don’t…
To recall about the days we lived
Smiles for decades unseen sadness and happiness….
To return to the forest, to return to youth
Sitting alone and crying in the middle of the forest…
The sea
Lost among the life
I still dream of one day to return to the sea
The sea lulls me
When my heart is suffered
To erase the footprints of bare feet in the sand
Then to wave busily into the ocean
Bobbing on the waves
Listen to the wind blowing on salty lips
When afternoon comes, the water recedes
I am excited to see seagulls winging on the sea
The sea breathes, the sea loves, the sea longs for
And the ship is like a small dot in the ocean…
Afternoon
The moon is still the same
The sun is still the same
After autumn, winter arrives
Only humans with bent backs, blurred eyes, slow legs
And the beloved people are not returned
The moon is still the same
The sun is still the same
Fragile happiness
Misfortune overflowed
Hopes are still alive or lost
One day I will leave too
The songs in the life are still the same
The grass is still young when spring arrives
The river is still flowing into two sides
Only humans once gone that never returned
The moon is still the same
The sun is still the same
A little love lights a fire in the late afternoon.
