..

HOMELAND

Translated by Tam Lac Jessica A.T

Mother, what is a home land?

…that my teacher say I must cherish

Mother, what is a home land?

…that everyone misses so much

Home land is where the sweet carambola grows…

Where you climb to pluck fruit everyday,

Home land is the old path to school…

Where you run home chasing yellow butterflies.

Home land is where a blue- green kite flies…

Happily in amongst the youth on grassy fields,

Home land is where a little ferry lies…

Gently rippling the home rivers waters

Home land is a little bamboo bridge…

With mother in a crooked Palm-leaf hat,

It is perfumed field flowers and sweet native grass…

Drifting into my sleep on long summer nights

Home land is warm loving arms…

To lay asleep throughout the night’s rain,

Home land is the bright moon at night…

Where areca flowers scatter upon the veranda floor

Home land is a patch of pumpkin flowers…

And a violet Malabar spinach hedge,

It is the red on a fence of Hibiscus veins…

And the color of a magnificent white pure lotus.

Everyone has only but one Home land…

Just like everyone only one birth mother,

Home land…

Does anyone not miss so dearly …?

Translated into English by Tam Lac

from Vietnamese poem “Quê Hương by Đỗ Trung Quân”

..