MY REPATRIATION DREAM

On my way back home a beautiful morning
I bid farewell to the friendly temporary residence.
Eyes swimming with tears, happiness mixed with grief:
This is Vietnam! as ricefields, areca groves evidence.

Since the traitors won, there has been imprisonment,
Starvation, untreated illnesses, with bereavement imbued,
Heavy taxation, labor extortion, production abuse,
Resources overexploitation, natural calamities ensued.

I find my way back home after the great changes
To our dear Quang Nam painfully shedding tears.
Falling down, then rising up -- so many generations:
Green shoots trees sprout, mutual devotion million years.

Hoi An, Dien Ban, Thanh Quyt, Cau Lau,
How I love you, native land that war ravaged day after day:
Bui Giang's poems resonating somewhere around;
Mom's back bent to wait, Dad's bamboo cane noble to stay.

I get back to recollect the past days, when I stood
Sobbing under the red flamboyant flowers,
There the hall's veranda turned deserted in summer.
Where are those schoolmates in Tran Quy Cap's bowers?

The relics -- Confucian Monument, Bridge Pagoda --
Are still here, though faded by evil sun and winds so rife.
Beloved Quang Nam!  I cherish and miss you for ever!
Let me entrust to you the rest of my life...

                        Vietnamese poem by PHẠM HOÀI VIỆT

                        English translation by THANH-THANH