A Long Day In The Motherland

An old person in the public park
An insane person in the city
A person grasping for his last breath
A person sits and listens to the bombs explode

A person sits for twenty years
Watches flares light up the night
A group of children accustomed to bombs and bullets
A Vietnamese person lies wounded

A Viet mother lies waiting for twenty years
Bones and skin soften
Awaits the sacred hour of the rivers and mountains
The color yellow on untainted skin
Should protect the golden rice of the motherland

One long day in the motherland
A devastating day in Viet Nam
An empty field afflicted with red soil
A herd of cattle with no grass to graze

One long day in the motherland
Viet people forget what it’s like to live
A prison nurtures yellow-skinned people
Viet people lie, longing for their young country

 A long day of worry
Each night the bombs and bullets destroy
Viet people look like strangers
Viet people look at each other with hatred

One prison in the motherland
Viet people forget their roots
Each day, people build resentment
Each day, new bombs erase the craters of old bombs

A Viet mother lies for twenty years
Bones and skin soften
Awaits the sacred hour of the rivers and mountains
The color yellow on untainted skin
Should protect the golden, ripened rice of the motherland

One long day in the motherland
The group of young children have now grown
An old person looks on with worry
An old person waits for the wind to calm

A person sits for twenty years
Sadness or happiness hinges upon bitter wine
Which Viet person’s skin is not yellow ?
Which Viet mother forgets her son’s corpse ?

translated by Tran Duy Tinh