In Those Peaceful Days In Vietnam Poem by NHIEN NGUYEN MD

Lying here tonight, I think of my home country
I remember the hut where I grew up
The huts with bamboo walls and thatched roofs
Which refugee people helped each other to build.
After departing from the North to move South
Many people of Thanh-Hóa province came here to rebuild their lives.
Because my country was divided by political reason
People came here to look for their new freedom.
Here, green forests covered hills and valleys
Mists covered mountain tops and winds carried human loves.
Far gone were floating corpses in rivers
Far gone were exposed dead corpses along main roads
Far gone were chasers and those being chased
Far gone were sounds of gunshots, house fires and ashes of burnt houses
This was a time people breathed their freedom air.
Sunrise joyfully welcomed children on their way to schools.
They played jumping ropes, striking sticks or leaping frogs
They played soccer, spinning tops or hopped around school yard.
They enjoyed their peaceful long deep night sleep
They came into forests to climb on trees, after their school hours.
From being strangers, people loved and supported each other
Church bells rang every day and they gathered to praise God
From morning to evening, their kitchen smokes rose high.
These refugee people rebuilt their lives with their shoulders side by side.

NHIEN NGUYEN MD
3/26/2015
In memory of 1955-1960

Above is translation poem of the Vietnamese poem of NHIEN NGUYEN MD:


NGÀY ĐÓ THANH BÌNH Ở VIỆT NAM


Nằm đây, tôi nhớ quê nhà
Đêm nay, tôi nhớ mái nhà ngày xưa
Nhà chòi vách liếp mái tranh
Đám người tị nạn giúp nhau dựng nhà.
Sau khi rời Bắc vào Nam
Những người Thanh Hóa về đây xây đời.
Bởi vì đất nước chia đôi
Người tìm đất mới, tự do nơi này.
Đồi cao lũng thấp rừng xanh
Mây giăng đỉnh núi, gió mang tình người.
Xa rồi xác chết trôi sông
Xa rồi xác chết nằm phơi bên đường.
Xa rồi kẻ trốn, kẻ lùng
Xa rồi tắc bọp, lửa bùng, nhà tro.
Một thời thở khí Tự Do
Bình minh chào đón trẻ thơ tới trường.
Nhảy giây, đánh cảy, nhảy cừu
Đá banh, chơi vụ, sân trường trẻ vui.
Đêm nằm thẳng giấc ngủ vùi
Chiều khi tan học vào rừng trèo cây.
Thương nhau, trước lạ sau thân
Nhà thờ chuông đổ, chung dâng lời cầu
Sáng chiều khói bếp vươn cao
Những người tị nạn chung vai xây đời.

NHIEN NGUYEN MD
03262015
kỷ niệm những năm 1955-1960