Top 10 Poems by the poet Hồ Dzếnh

She insists on dates, but please don't appear!
Let my sadness wander all over the courtyard
Looking at my hand, the cigarette burns out slowly...
I whisper: Disgusting, how to remember that?

She insists on dates, but please don't appear!
Oh my dear! What does love mean?
If it's not cherishing the first moments?
In the fragile love like silk sunlight
Flowers and butterflies overflow and stop, grass and trees sway
Promising tomorrow's season will be joyful
Only tomorrow is beautiful, only tomorrow!

She insists on dates, but please don't appear!
I will blame - of course! - but very lightly
If you go, try to come back
Happiness is lost when the oath is broken
Life is only beautiful when it's unfinished
Letters don't finish, boats don't stop
For a thousand after... floating... with a thousand past...

This poem has been set to music by Trần Thiện Thanh as the song 'Dating Story,' by composer Anh Bằng as the song 'You Keep Making Appointments,' and by composer Hoàng Thanh Tâm as the song with the same name.

Source:
1. Hồ Dzếnh, Homeland, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969
2. Selected literature of Vietnam (Volume 7: Literature in the period 1900-1945), National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities, Social Sciences Publishing House, 2004

On the way home full of memories
Evening slowly guides the steps of the day
Sorrowful sounds echo in the clouds...

Forest birds forget to spread their wings
Wind intoxicates with innocent love
Is it the sorrow of a thousand ages
Accumulated in the soul this evening?

I am a wandering traveler
The evening color is hard to disturb
I thought my heart was a forest
I thought my soul was a cloud

Missing home, lighting a cigarette
Mysterious smoke rises to the trees...

The poem is also known as Evening and has been set to music by composer Dương Thiệu Tước as the song Evening.

Source:
1. Hồ Dzếnh, Homeland, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969
2. Selected literature of Vietnam (Volume 7: Literature in the period 1900-1945), National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities, Social Sciences Publishing House, 2004

Oh, Vietnamese girl!
From the time of infancy, facing hardships
I know your heart is burdened with sorrow
Being apart, we can only remember each other

You never know the beauty of butterflies and flowers
Rosy cheeks with each passing season
When you're happy and excited, it's the moment
Cradling the child, embracing old age

Oh, Vietnamese girl!
The wind of time has changed its direction
The glorious generation couldn't erase
A thousand years of the moon's radiant light

I come here to find your shadow
Returning to the old path, picking nostalgic dreams
Sorrel still grows along the fence
Ironwood, your heart still waits

The rice field you planted is now lush
The spring breeze twirls the flowers with a smile...
Who knows the heart of the one who tended the rice
In a small village, it has withered away!

Oh, Vietnamese girl!
If the word 'sacrifice' exists in life
I want to embellish it with countless hardships
For the radiant heart of the Vietnamese girl

Source: Hồ Dzếnh, Homeland, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969

In the old days, when we were young
I wore a silver necklace, offered incense at the temple
Joyful heart, dressed in elegant clothes
Holding a newly bought golden incense and candle
My sister entered the temple for the ceremony
Two young men jokingly prayed on either side
“A heart devoted to the New Year's offerings
Wishing the younger sister finds a good husband outside of Tet”
My sister's cheeks were rosy and bright
Almost forgetting to carry me
Under the tiled roof, she sat gracefully
Listening to fortune-telling, she laughed endlessly
The divine divination eyes were wise
This number means an expensive husband and many children
My sister, now in the evening of life
Surely remembers the dreams she had
Every year, I go to the temple
The golden and precious bell is still there
Sister, feeling empty in the soul
Some fragrance of incense from the innocent days
Walking, counting the temple bell's sound
I suspect the years have returned to the past.

In the bygone days, I lived joyfully and peacefully
In a small village nestled along the peach blossom-laden river

My sister laundered silk by the pond
The sky clear, the sun casting a warm glow, her cheeks enticing
I was enchanted by the pure water, mystical clouds
The water mirroring the ancient form, clouds conveying the tales of yore...

Life was serene: subdued sunlight, gentle rain
Sorrow in the morning linking to brightness, sadness extending from noon to evening
Once, I felt the stirrings of love
Velvet eyes, the girl with the final scarf in the village

It's been a while, I've grown somewhat wiser
Does the neighborly girl still remember those shared moments?

Source: Hồ Dzếnh, Homeland, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969

The sky with no sun, nor any rain
A chilly cold, just enough for nostalgic thoughts

Evening melancholy like shared sorrows
A silent heart hears the distant sound of silk threads

Where is the slow train forgetting the station?
Lost, the wind recalls through the thick leaves

I keep walking in this place endlessly
Love's sorrow syncs with the day I arrived

Underfoot, the weary path turns golden in autumn
Distant love is profound, and I long to love even more

Source: Hồ Dzếnh, Homeland, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969

The sky, neither sunny nor rainy,
Just a gentle breeze, enough for nostalgic yearning.
Do you still remember the homeland?
The strawberry fields still wait, the river patiently flows.
Mysterious tales of chance, unanticipated unions,
No expectations turned into fate.
From far away, suddenly so close,
Though we've never met, strange, isn't it?
This morning, Hanoi transitions to autumn,
Lake Thu. Willowy hair. The Turtle Tower sparkles.
The land here is meaningful, the love profound,
Read the poem, and you'll see yourself within.

The first two lines are borrowed from the poem 'Last year's Autumn' in the collection 'Homeland.' The poem is dedicated to Hương Phương, likely a Vietnamese-French expatriate. In a handwritten copy, the author titled it 'Autumn in Hanoi.'

Source: Vũ Quần Phương, Selected Works of Hồ Dzếnh, Literature Publishing House, 1988

Dear mother of mine!
Blood flows, spring fragrance, eyes glistening
Mother's breasts have dried, the source of milk gone
Yet, the love of a child remains, just a bit!...

Vietnamese land blooms with a thousand springs
The old mirror reflects a brilliant dawn
Simple wishes, reminiscent of the past:
'Coong nà coong, dear mother, mother coong ơi!...'

Source: Hồ Dzếnh, Spring Flowers of Vietnam, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969

We're both sisters and brothers
A mother's heart, the spouse's heart
In the future, at the moment of parting
Between us, who will bid farewell?
Self-pity is too much, the pain is deep
I willingly become the one who follows
Life is not merely transient
Our homeland is filled with profound love, my dear!

Source: Hồ Dzếnh, Spring Flowers of Vietnam, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969

While still in the womb, asleep
Mother carefully gathers day and night's sustenance
The cradle gently holds the sleeping child
Mother's fragrant milk, a portion squeezed to nurture
Mud, the color of lush non-rainy land
Encompasses the profound meaning of maternal love with life
In the next life, may I be human again
To hear the land's echo in mother's lullaby.

Source: Hồ Dzếnh, Homeland, Hoa Tiên Publishing House, Saigon, 1969