Phuong Hong Poem by Natasa To

When the red phoenix flowers fall,
Summer trembles down the wall,
A bicycle waits beside the rain,
Carrying youth through joy and pain.



Your white áo dài crossed the street,
Soft as old songs, bittersweet,
And every breeze through schoolyard trees
Still whispers names like memories.



Oh, phượng hồng beneath the sun,
We thought our days would never run,
Yet time slipped by in amber light,
Like lanterns fading into night.



The chalk dust danced, the bells would ring,
Young hearts believed in everything,
A glance, a smile, a trembling hand—
Small forever in that land.



Now distant years return once more
With crimson petals at the door,
And somewhere in the endless sky
Our lost July still passes by.



So let the old guitar remain,
Singing softly through the rain,
For every bloom of fiery red
Keeps one first love not truly dead.