Top 10 Best Children's Poems by Poet Xuân Quỳnh

Spring is like a ship

Carrying the joy of the land

Seedlings and tree buds

A thousand flowers along with songs

The ship sails, your house

Stays here with the sand

Summer is like a river

Carrying the blue sky to the sea

Fruits also go along

Birdsong then eventually ends!

Only your house remains

Here, along with the pier

Autumn is light

Spreading gold everywhere

Golden amidst the leafy sunshine

Light eventually drifts away!

Only your house remains

Here, among the leaves

Winter is black wind

Bringing clouds and icy frost

Carrying your childhood too

Flying back to the homeland of the wind

Only your house remains

And your mother is still there.

The Universe's First Dawn

All filled with kids

On this bare planet

No trees, no grass

No sun, just darkness

Only blackened air

No other hues there

***

Children's eyes gleam so bright

Yet see nothing in sight!

Only when the sun rises high

Can they see with clarity

Green sprouts begin to rise

Greenery begins to show

Trees stand as tall as a hand

Grass as fine as hair strands

Flowers bloom in shades of red

Birds start to chirp overhead

Their songs ripple like water

As high as clouds they alter

Gentle winds carry their tune

Spreading music by the moon

If children wish to bathe

Rivers start to form and pave

Seas exist from the start

Bringing thoughts to impart

Seas birth fish, shrimp, and more

Sails and sailors they restore

For children to explore and dream

Clouds provide ample shade

Sun and clouds in balance made

As children learn to walk

Paths emerge as they talk

But what children truly need

Is love and lullabies to heed

Hence, mothers give birth

To nurture, cherish, and mirth

Mother brings songs to bear

From the humble to the fair

From fragrant flowers rare

To the swan's snow-white hair

From ginger's sharp bite

To wounds yet not right

From the source of rain's sound

To desolate sandy ground...

Understanding children's thirst

For tales from both last and first

Whence grandmother steps in

To recount tales of yore

Frog prince, fairies galore

Tấm Cám, virtues to adore

And Lý Thông's villainous lore...

Her hair now gray and thin

Yet her eyes sparkle within

Throughout her life she tells

Never running out of tales

For children to comprehend

Hence, father steps into frame

To teach them to be tame

To guide them in thought and aim

The ocean vast, the road long

Mountains green, distant and strong

Circular, the earth they roam

With words already home

Then came chairs and desks

Then came classes and tests

And thus teachers came to be...

With boards made of slate

Chalk from stone, great

Teachers write large and bold

“The Tale of Humanity” told foremost.

Where did you go on the thirtieth?

The night grew so dark, no sight to see

On the second, you still wandered

I yearn for you to come play here!

On the fifth, I saw you smile

Just your thin lips, oh so lean

By the eleventh, you were a tad plump

Sometimes you were gone for days due to rain

In the rain, you had shelter

Why fear getting wet and not come, oh dear

On the thirteenth, the lanterns are ready

Bought pink, bought cake to invite you to feast

Today's the fourteenth, tomorrow's the full moon

Heaven, grant clarity for you, moon to return

Even far, please don't hesitate

A cool breeze will guide you along the way

Tonight, all of us

Wait for you with lanterns, all joyful

When the moon has risen

Just as bright, and so perfectly round!

– Summer sun shines at our home

Winter sun, where does it roam?

– It lingers around the teapot

Steeping warm tea for grandma

A sip she takes, then she sighs

Sunshine blends in the tea, oh so nice

Sunlight in oranges, sweet delight

All through winter, in our garden bright

Sunlight sinks into the fragrant bloom

Of countless daisies, chasing gloom

The sun cares for us in the cold

So into our thick coats, it folds

Warming our hands with its gentle hold

Each time we dip them in water's fold

Yet the sun fears the chill, it's told

Into our blankets, it does fold

Watch closely and behold

How much sun within our blanket's fold

And the sun loves to cuddle

Within a mother's warm embrace

With each hug, love they trace

We feel the warmth, such a cozy space!

Ten shuttlecocks

Do countless tasks:

Starting with the first table

The trendsetter

Then to the second table

Rice cakes already cooked

Along with apples

And various tubers

Table three, table four…

Table ten meticulously…

Without touching the ground

A ball in hand

The shuttlecock knows to fly

The shuttlecock knows to sing

Encountering obstructing water

The shuttlecock crosses the river

A red egg yolk

A curled shrimp, a duck’s butt

Floating on the water’s surface

Are the clusters of duckweed

A vine knows how to climb

A green persimmon tastes bitter…

The shuttlecock knows all

But the shuttlecock doesn’t know

That: these shuttlecocks

Do countless tasks

All thanks to your hands.

Looking up on a high floor at night

Among so many stars

We search for the moon

In the bright sky

The moon also searches for us

Surely the moon also remembers

We walk along the street

The moon still accompanies us

When the electric lights go out

The moon illuminates our path

As darkness falls, the moon rises

You're asleep, then the moon descends

– Mother, do you know

Why the moon is sometimes crescent, sometimes full?

– The crescent moon is thin

When sad, the moon becomes crescent

The moon is like a mother

When the child misbehaves, the mother becomes thin

– Mother, why is it that on some days

I'm good, yet the moon is still crescent?

– But how would you know

If there are still friends who aren't well-behaved!

Yet the moon remains round

On every full moon night

For all the good kids

The bright golden moonlight

On the full moon night of the eighth month

The roundest moon of the year

Because of all the good friends

Longing for the moon too much…

Always wanting the moon to be round

Must be good all around.

What does childhood hold?

A child laughs with bamboo eyes in the bunker

There's the morning breeze visiting

There's the full moon scattering with the child

Long rivers, vast seas, round ponds

Smoke of enemy bombs, stars at the end of the sky

Three months crawling, seven months sitting

The child plays with dirt, plays in the bunker

Hoping for days, months, years

One year the child clings to the bunker, the child leaves

Blue skies in every direction beyond

Green grass around the rows of graves on the hill

Hearts like clocks

Rest in the chest urging the marching hour

The cricket knows how to dig tunnels

The crab doesn't sleep, guards against bomb blasts

In the moonlight Uncle Cuoi turns off the light

So enemy eyes draw back with black clouds

Flowers and leaves know how to walk

Following people through streams, through crevices, through villages

Trenches across the earth's surface

Will stretch as long as the paths the child takes

Deep bunkers are now more precious than homes

Guns are kinship, bullets are conscience

Mother nurtures the fire in the bunker

So when grown, the child will hold it in hand

The thoughts of today's mothers

Written for the child to remember the childhood days

Tomorrow's dreams complete

Love the stories of our homeland's past.

Why does the frog

Always grind its teeth?

Why does the worm

Never shut its eyes?

Without legs or wings,

Why call it: a river?

No leaves, no branches,

Yet named: the wind?

This little fan here,

Where does the wind hide?

The ocean screams day and night,

Why doesn't it lose its voice?

The tiny duckling all alone,

Without its mother, isn't it sad?

But as soon as mom steps out,

Why does the duckling remember?

The night has fallen deep,

The clock sings you to sleep,

Tick-tock, tick-tock,

Two hands in endless race,

You're not yet in dreamland's keep,

While time just seems to creep,

Tick-tock, tick-tock…

Sweet dreams, little one!

Upon the wall, a page,

The teacher shares a smile,

She dances, she sings,

To make your home worthwhile,

Sweet dreams, little one!

Mother rocks the cradle,

She watches as you sleep,

Your head so soft and fair,

Your hair like spun silk rare,

Your lips a rosy smile,

In dreams you'll stay a while,

Mother plans ahead:

By month three, you'll stand,

By month seven… you'll roam,

By month ten, you'll run and play,

Sweet dreams, little one!

Outside, frosty dew,

The soldier keeps the guard,

Patrolling in the night,

Through alleys dark and tight,

To help you drift in peace,

Sweet dreams, little one!

The soldier on the watch,

His beacon cuts the sky,

He guards the morning star,

He guards the moon up high,

For on the full moon's night,

We'll parade your light,

Sweet dreams, little one!

You're still so very small,

You don't know who you are,

You don't know yet at all,

If you've come from afar,

But in the cradle you lie,

Sweet dreams, little one!

Oh spring breeze, do not stir the curtain,

The doll is about to sleep soundly in her bed,

The gentle chirping of birds by the wall,

The sky is lightly blue, the road silent in the distance,

The little one whispers softly inside:

“Sleep, and tomorrow, mother will bring gifts of spring,”

The evening star is drawing near,

There stands a duck on one leg, right there!

Dear one, sleep, for next year,

You’ll still be on the other side of today,

Now is the time for this year,

The flower awaits, the tree anticipates,

Tomorrow, another year for the flower,

Bringing forth fragrant hues before our doorsteps,

Tomorrow, another year for the tree,

Sap rising in the branches, leaves spread in joyful celebration,

Tomorrow, another year for the moon,

Though the moon grows, it’s only equal to yesterday,

Tomorrow, another year for granny,

Adding more stories of grass, of flowers, of people,

Sleep tight, little doll,

Another year is soon to come, do you like that?

The doll knows not of joy,

Still lying, still sleeping, still saying nothing,

Only the tiny mother,

Fluttering with anticipation, listening to age’s arrival.