FAREWELL FOR EVER,

               TWIN TOWERS!
                                   to New York with all my regret

The flames are blazing up in mid-air, oh flare-ups!
The obscure, furious smokes are blackening the clouds.
The ruins left after the dreadful explosions:
Thousands of bodies buried in the fire that enshrouds.

Is this a fiction movie or the very truth that has been
More terrible than in one’s imagination or dream?
In panic the crowds are weeping, crying, screaming;
Tears have fallen but minds still doubt the scheme.

Oh God!  Is this mankind’s globe or hell
Where ferocious fiends are fiercely roasting souls,
And in an instant thousands of humans slumped down
And sank into such a full sea of live coals!

The whole world is astounded by the horrid cruelty,
Boiling mad at the blood-thirsty bands,
While in the dark, beyond the burnt flesh and bones,

The wicked wildly cheer and clap their hands!

Devils!  With your mass destruction instruments
Thousands of people have lost thousands of their kin!
Their happiness, their aspiration for a fulgent future
Suddenly have got into pangs because of your sin!

There I stand, on the riverside, with wet eyes
Looking at the seething inferno of smoke-and-flame:
Oh, how I wish, even though smashed to smithereens,
I could show gratitude, save the wonder and its fame!

Oh, the splendid symbol of prosperity in a bright time
Is writhing and collapsing in the inhuman conflagration
And reminding all citizens all over the planet
To be always on guard against any evil machination.                                 

Farewell for ever!  I feel pain in my exile pneuma;
Twin Towers, the so much dear and beloved sign,
Will remain in my sentiments – Since an immigrant
From afar, I have embraced this new Country as mine.

                     Vietnamese poem by NGÔ MINH HẰNG
                     English translation by Thanh-Thanh