Buzz
5. Poem: You Depart, and I Traverse
You depart, and I journey alone
You venture where I'm not by your side
I walk towards a horizon, storms raging wide
Your destination nears the endless tide
Mine approaches a garden where roses bide
Seventy stand with concealed smiles
Eighty stand weeping, life's path not yet dried
A century blends in the void so wide
Perhaps, I linger, singing sorrow with pride.
7. Poem: The Guava Orchard
The Guava Orchard
Twelve-year-old me, following Sister's leadCrossing Grandma Thunder's bridge, Aunt Rain's portFinding...days of search, in vainSeeking not found, the heart of a boy waves the flagThree steps apart into the guava orchardSister shaking branches horizontallyI, at the tree's base- Can I have a ripe one, please?- Ripe one...beyond reach- Can I have a guava?- A guava, the bird pecks a holeLonely, I walk to the orchard behindPicking evening rain, a few fallen guavas.
8. Poem: Aspirations
Aspirations
To Mom and Sister
The Spirit Realm
By the Lú wharf, across the Giác River
H.C.
Four eight forms of Poetry, eight beats they dance
A week's journey, the block of love not yet drained
Wishing the waves, Mother bursts forth a Princess
Blink of an eye tilts in sorrow...
the virtual cycle of life
Wishing to illuminate Sister, singing in a soft voice
Wind-handled strings
gently
white veil pure
Even if I, lost, recall
Sun drifting over coconut clouds
Leaves take shape
Then love sails
soul of Chieu Thanh
Ink urging the bell to gather
... tears transcribe the Sutra...
Hanoi, in the month of Filial Piety, the Year of the Wood Dog
19/8/1994
9. Poem: The Words of Stone
The Words of Stone
Oh, human, shatter me not
I have the right to live
To carve deep into space
With nights cold and days warm
To inscribe the passage of time
With rain dissolving and sun lingering
Only a hue of green moss
Knew where King Tran once sat
A line of veins encircling
Knew of Uc Trai's unjust suffering
The sea of islets, he surely recalls
The sound of the Hải Van source
Telling tales of shattered stones
Fate white in the evening of Ngoc Han
Still, the words of the stone
Resonate through ancient times
Tears of the eighth King Ly
Stringing pearls, still crying in pain
Source: Hoang Cam - collection of poems, Literature Association Publisher, 2003
10. Poem: Grass of Elegy
Grass of Elegy
Sister guides me to this shore
Climbing rocky cliffs
Before the abyss
Behind the crevice
A spider's web entwines the toes
A towel dropped, only orchid buds tied
Whoo whoo, the wind blows
I echo, who turns into stone
Not bound, yet not leaving
No crowing of roosters
No harvest, no
Eyes unopened
Don't close
See the vines eager to embrace me
Nodding, purple flowers fall
Gazing at the green forest, I ask the source
Understood
Enough
listening to the purple flowers sing
Seventeen years old
Ending the game of the Grasshopper
The Grasshopper must climb the rocky cliffs
Whoo whoo, the wind blows
No crowing of roosters
No harvest, no.
