Công Ơn Cha Mẹ Như NúI, ĐạI Dương Poem by NHIEN NGUYEN MD

Hôm nay, ngày Mother's Day
Lòng con cảm tạ Mẹ Cha, hai người.
Công Cha như dẫy Trường Sơn
Nghĩa Mẹ như nước đại dương Thái-Bình.
Mẹ Cha vất vả mưu sinh
Thương con, Cha Mẹ hy sinh tháng ngày.
Cha thì lo việc cầy bừa
Mẹ thì chợ búa, hái dâu, nuôi tằm.
Cha thì đập lúa, mẹ sàng
Mẹ Cha gĩa gạo, tiếng chầy vang đêm.
À ơi, con ngủ tay êm
Mẹ Cha ru võng, con thêm tuổi đời.
Ngày nào còn tuổi nằm nôi
Đôi dòng sữa mẹ nuôi con ngọt ngào.
Mẹ ôm, tim mẹ thật gần
Bên dòng sữa ấm, tim này ru con.
Nhạc tim ru mãi, Mẹ thương
Mẹ ru con ngủ ngày còn trong thai.
Ngọt ngào hai tiếng Mẹ Cha
Ấm thay tiếng nhạc tim Cha Mẹ mình.
À ơi, tiếng hát, lời kinh
Mẹ Cha lần chuỗi, cầu xin ơn trời.
Mẹ Cha giữ đạo làm người
Kính trên, nhường dưới, thương người như thân.
Thương Cha, thương Mẹ, ông bà
Sáng thì dự lễ, tối cầu tại gia.
Cả đời Cha Mẹ thương nhau
Nuôi con vất vả, thương con cả đời.
Sáng nay dự lễ nhà thờ
Nhớ ơn Cha Mẹ, tấm lòng con dâng.

5/12/2016
NHIEN NGUYEN MD

Below is English version of above Poem by NHIEN NGUYEN MD:

PARENTS' LOVE IS LIKE LONG MOUNTAIN RANGE AND PACIFIC OCEAN

Today is Mothers' Day
I appreciate and thank both of my parents.
Father's sacrifice was as gigantic as Trường-Sơn mountain range.
Mother's love was as voluminous as water of Pacific Ocean.
Parents worked very hard to earn their living.
Loving their children, they sacrificed every day.
Father plowed and tilled family fields.
Mother traded in market, plucked mulberry leaves to raise silkworms.
Father threshed rice stalks, mother sieved broken rice grains.
Together, they milled rice and rice pounding sounds echoed late into the night.
Resting on my parents' arms, on swinging hammock
I grew up amidst their soothing lullabies.
Mother's milk nursed me lovingly when I was an infant.
Holding me in her arms, my mother's heart was so close to mine.
Her heart sang to me while her milk nursed me.
Her heart sang to me countless sweet lullabies
She lulled me to sleep since I was still in her womb.
How sweet have been the words Mom and Dad
And soul-warming, the music from their hearts.
They chanted folk songs and said their prayers.
They prayed Rosaries and asked for God's blessings.
They lived their lives of just people.
They respected authorities and empathized with their subordinates.
They loved people just like loving themselves.
They loved their parents and grandparents.
They attended morning mass and said their evening prayers.
They loved each other their whole lives.
They worked hard in raising their children and loved them always.
Attending mass at St Paul's church this morning,
I said my prayers in honoring my parents.

NHIEN NGUYEN MD
5/12/2016