Exploring the Elegance of Tạ Hữu Yên's Top 10 Poems

Journey with the Blossom Season

Falling onto my poetic page
Peach blossoms gently brush in red
Evening in Son La, wind whispers
I hear the flowers softly speak

I hear buds gently sprawl
From the prison wall's crevice
A struggle, arduous and tough
In the cold of winter's grasp

The seed Anh planted
Blooms in the Communist era
Clusters of pink blossoms
The sky bursts with radiant sunlight

The heart of a Revolutionary
Will never wither
Sowing the seeds of rhythmic verse
For future voices to sing endlessly

My poetic page is enriched
Amidst the Sơn La prison
Tô Hiệu! Is it true
You return with the blossom season??

Source: Literature Grade 5 (Volume 2), Publishing House of Education, 1989

Remembering that Autumn

There was a season of flowers in that October
Fragrance rising in every corner of the thirty-six streets
Birds soaring across pairs of skies like that
Many beloved ones celebrating, welcoming their loved ones.

She met him after months and years apart
After the night he crossed the cold Red River
She waited for him in the desolate streets
Leaves in the garden falling as years passed by.

Unable to hold back tears
In his embrace, she cried and laughed
This autumn night in Hanoi is too short
Seeming like just a fleeting moment.

August's starry flag then comes to October
Why are there so many sweet autumns?
She and him now with silver hair
Yet remembering that autumn – the green streets.

Source: People's Daily Monthly Issue 162 October 2010

The Silence of Flowers

Yesterday, just a bud
Quietly sipping night dew
This morning, the flower bud blooms
Bestowing life with its unique grace

Someone indifferent passes by
Cold wind blows by
Unaware in the silence
A bud sprouts into a blossom.

Summer 1976
Source: The Green Melody, People's Army Publishing House, 1978.

The Party

The Party is born from the people
Singing the International anthem - rich with the soul of Vietnam
The Hammer and Sickle prominently displayed
The color yellow more vibrant than the hue of honeycombs
The hammer builds and the sickle harvests the fields
Trần Phú and Lê Hồng Phong
Nguyễn Văn Cừ and Ngô Gia Tự
They fall, becoming history
And red letters shine on a thousand pages
Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai writes a letter at the labor door
'The more we fight, the more we investigate, the more determined we become'
Entering the court with a majestic stride
'A person of steel' - Hoàng Văn Thụ sacrifices.
Hoả Lò, Sơn La, Côn Đảo
Houses full in Buôn Ma, flames in Saigon
Mác - Lê class behind iron bars
Feet in chains, but the heart remains as red as vermilion.
The Party raises the leadership flag high
Party members are 'servants of the people'
'Don't rise to power as revolutionary officials'
Uncle Hồ has reminded us many times
'Our Party is morality and civilization'
Hồ Chí Minh writes a luminous verse
Yes! Communist Party members
Throughout a lifetime following the humanitarian ideology
The nation of the Hùng kings in a new era
Hearing the echoes of each beat of the bronze drum
The Party flag illuminates our path forward
Adding a hundred times more beauty to the grace of the land.

Autumn, Returning to the Source

This autumn arrives at Tân Trào
Walking in a sunlight as sweet as honey.

Returning to the source with rhythmic steps
The revolutionary capital opens its arms for an embrace.

Returning to the source, the heart is brighter
When seeing the roof of flowers bloom on ordinary days.

Have heard the rustle on the road
Students carrying books to school at noon.

Have heard the sparse sounds of chickens
The Hong Thai communal house sways as swallows fly around.

The Hong mountain stands sturdy with green trees
A thousand years still guarding the fortress here.

And the Khuôn Pén river is full
Reflecting the image of Uncle Ho from ancient days.

The simple roof of Nà Lừa
Bác's hut stands as if embracing the wind and moon.

Visiting Tân Trào for the third time
Source: People's Monthly issue 148 August/2009

Brushstrokes of an Era

Lang Liêu offers green square cakes
A national dish has become a sacred ritual

Fragrant glutinous rice, peach blossom wine
Men say, say even in the farthest corners of the homeland

Once a wild and pristine mountain
Wildflowers, mountain fruits abundant in colorful fragrance

Hùng Vương, with a skilled bow
Hunting deer in the fragrant night field

Remembering that untamed and rosy time
How beautiful the national emblem of Văn Lang - the golden characters

Source: Events and Witnesses (Issue 194, February-2010), Monthly Magazine of the People's Army Newspaper.

Revived City

The tall red roofs gleam with flags
Indeed, but still feels like a dream
Green adds to the clouds, pigeons gracefully circling
After thirty years, this moment finally arrives.

Suddenly the streets narrow, the roads squeeze
Cars next to cars, people close to people
Beautiful flowers and you are beautiful
Hand in hand, under the whip, smiles bloom.

Streetlights glow in the night, people also persist through the night
Five sleepless years and five brief years
The Dragon Wharf rises, fresh and lively
Waves gently lapping the shore.

Revived city - Youthful city
'Far Eastern Pearl' shines brightly again
Deep voices sing in harmony
Hearing the bass resonating in the profound evening...

Remembering comrades, former warriors of the South - North reunification days.
Source: People's Monthly issue 168 April/2011