Top 10 Finest Poems by Poet Doan Thi Lam Luyen

Nowhere compares to my own home
With sparrows singing on the porch
A hen dreaming amidst flowers
Our cat, the artisan, crafting right after birth
And the banana tree, bees on its honeyed back.
We have the corn farmer with pink threads
A pond with frogs playing chess
I am like Cinderella, waiting for the sprout
A swamp full of fragrant lotuses
Frogs study music, crickets compose poetry
Even when far, truly far away
Nowhere feels as joyful as my home.

Source: Doan Thi Lam Luyen - 36 poems, Lao Dong Publishing House, 2007

A cup of intoxication, asleep for millions of years
Upon awakening, did he part ways with that girl?
The price he paid for love, enduring the wait
I will wait as if it were a love...

I will wait
Like moss-covered stones
By the distant riverbank, in the season of dwindling water
Thirsty rain within us since ancient times
The rainbow embracing the distant sky...

I will wait for him
Like rice awaiting the March thunder
Like a mustard patch hastily blossoming, awaiting the day to spread its butterfly wings
Like Cinderella cherishing her husband from past lives
Unraveling this life, recognizing each other through the silk thread

I am virtuous
Where is my wrongdoing?
Why does fate play its hand, starting his love with another girl?
Is it the wine that waits for the dulling of the wine?
Is it the betel leaf
Waiting for the bite to become pungent?

Even without a rendezvous
I keep waiting, keep being intoxicated
Even if we are far apart, even if there is a day of reunion
Kim - Kieu, entwined by fate
Cannot be forever...

I still wait
Still wait
Even if it's just the legend of a love!

Source: To Love, Literature Publishing House, 2003

If we send love
To a genuine place
Then our love
Will turn into fragrance and honey

Sending love into the soil
With blossoms filling the branches
Sending it to the wide sky above
Will be embraced by the green wind

I give all to you
A passionate love
Like a beautiful sail
Surrendering to the vast sea

I have sent to you
A heart brimming with emotions
And you return to me
A shattered, painful sorrow!

I want to embrace the earth
I want to embrace the sky
Why can't we love completely
The heart of a human being?

This poem has been adapted into the song 'Aspiration' by musician Thuan Yen.

Source: Doan Thi Lam Luyen's 36 poems, Lao Dong Publishing House, 2007

When we part ways, you claim to be my greatest love,
More than all that was, and there will never be another.
You love me like the wind, the clouds, the sky, the earth,
Like the fields, music, poetry...
Half a lifetime, yet I dream on,
So content with love spoken as such.
I love you as the river, as the sea,
Like the sunlight, almost like the moon's glow,
Our love surpasses heaven and earth,
Like the bowl I eat from, like the mat I sleep on,
Can't be compared to love in the clouds, in the wind.
My heart is like a bewildering room,
No door in, no alleyway out.
The price of loving you, never a minute apart,
And never a trace of fear...
As if a fragile glass, handle me with all pride,
We live in this life, not a dream,
Neither hidden nor revealed,
Like a mermaid half beneath the sea,
Half in the earthly realm, entangled with mortal affairs.
If we love, why not live wholeheartedly?
Days have passed, nights too, let's not lose our way,
Let's share our desires, and the leisurely moments together.
We may think we love much, but is it love at all,
For behind it all,
We are like an old bear fearing frosty days,
Temporarily borrowing the shelter of an oak tree in cold winters.
It could be LOVE, it could be NOT,
Let's not promise each other, not the sky, not the earth...
Let's give each other our true hearts,
With our humanity and our lives alone...

The vast expanse of the sky
Is the home of the wind
The horizon is like a gateway
Let the wind roam freely

Hear the rustle of leaves
That's when the wind sings
The sea's surface ripples and roars
As the wind orchestrates its music

In scorching summer days
One wonders where the wind goes
The wind hides in the hat's brim
A fan gently cools the melancholic noon

The wind soars high
Over long rivers and wide seas
Carrying water to create rain curtains
Enlivening the fields with vibrant green

The dry wind carries white salt
Pushing sail wings forward
The wind never gets tired!
But who truly knows
What shape the wind takes.

Why not you, my Love
Instead, you are the gentle breeze
Caressing my hair tenderly
As if soothing a wound

Why not you, my Love
Instead, you are the sunlight
Warming my cheeks with fervor
As if kissing in the evening glow

Why not you, my Love
Instead, you are the swinging hammock
Lulling me into dreams
Like arms gently embracing

Why not you, my Love
The intensity in those eyes
Separated, that's how it is
Loving you so much... oh, my Love

How many salty seas have we crossed
Why are the tears in life saltier?

The human heart, a tiny sea
Yet after a thousand years, it remains profound!
Some shores for sailing out
No shore, allowing vast waves to roam freely...

Within us, what kind of shore
That the heart insists on giving to someone.
How many cycles of reincarnation
How much longing for endless ages because of each other?

Experiencing joy and pain
Gradually dyeing the once green hair white!
Going up the waterfall and down the rapids
Then each piece sways in the midst of life...

The external sea has calmed
But the sea within us still surges endlessly.

1.
Forty years old, first time at the sea
Celestial fate delays our encounter
Never a night when Moon is far from the Sea
Even when the moon is thin, a solitary reed.

2.
Abundant waters for that Moon
The Sea has surged, the Sea has aged
Who knows the eternal love story
We are the Moon and the Sea within each other!

Source: Poetry of the Sea, an anthology by various authors, Literature Publishing House, 2007

You love me so much
Yet I can't accept it all
I resist, unable to say no
Fearing it would sadden you

You love me so much
What should I give in return?
Wielding flags or wielding swords
Is it love or just camaraderie?

Don't love me so much
It brings too much suffering, oh dear
Loving you, many hate
Loving you, many laugh

Before you came into my life
My soul was bland
Now that you're in my life
My heart is shattered!

Source: Love Poetry by Doan Thi Lam Luyen, Literature Publishing House, 2003.

When I was still a little child
The door had two bolts
I could only secure the bottom one
Grandma took care of the top

As I grew each passing year
Grandma's back hunched and bent
I could manage the top bolt
She only dealt with the bottom

Now, returning to a new home
Doors galore - oh my, so many!
Every time I push a door
I'm flooded with memories of Grandma!