Poem of
The Day

Life Candles

I’ll blow out those red candles and observe
my birthday wandering in America.
Though quickly spring slips by, let me rejoice;
time-stained, I’ve earned another year of age.
Here linger still two streams of candle tears;
they grieve and mourn that youth has inched away.
Mountains and oceans sunder me in twain;
half of my soul yet clings to my poor land.
And when I gaze toward it, my people seem
outside the window flitting past like leaves.
Condemned to roll amidst the dust, I miss
those left behind, long for my hills and streams.
I am a bird who’s fled its crimson cage;
wing-worn, it flies toward shores still lost in mists.
From my own people, shadows so remote,
sad echoes of their whispers come at night.
Another birthday far away from home;
much farther yet I’ve strayed from native roots.
But on some happy day I’ll be back there;
awash with love, I’ll celebrate my birth.

Vinh Liem
Translated from Vietnamese by Huynh Sanh Thong