THE WHOLE WORLD IS

    AT PEACE THIS SPRING

 

I have packed off and shall not return at all;

Farewell for ever to the globe, a hand waving.

Future generations! do remember and recall

The mania the world this century pervading!

 

I shall never and ever step back any paces.

Please, the universe, set your mind at ease!

Remove your hands, hide no longer your faces!

For no more corpses shall ever fill the seas!

 

Bloody battlefields are not any more created.

Behind the Temple of Literature, cosy homes rise.

Two or three old phantoms are also eliminated

For human beings to skin and flesh revitalize.

         

So be it! Set your mind at rest and let it soar!

Make merry over me who have lost the red heart.

Never from now on and ever again shall I roar

For storms to surge up in the skies over any part.

         

Be assuredly at ease this spring, humankind!

You have feasted to see me off.  The flowers glow.

All the corners of the earth enjoy peace of mind.

Farewell to you for ever and ever -- Moscow!

 

 

             Vietnamese poem by VI KHUÊ

             English translation by THANH-THANH