Buzz
1. A Poem
HOMETOWN STORM
Poetry by Tú Uyên
Hearing of storm number five crossing Hà Nam, my heart tightens.
News of the storm reaching mother's village
A thatched roof, swaying in despair
Far from home, as evening falls, someone
Secretly aches for a pot of rice, a jar of water
Overnight storms flood the alleys
Mother must be worried, right?
For a child, life spent in endless toil
A figure tirelessly moving along the riverbanks
As the storm calms this morning
Gathering broken stems, aged bamboo shoots
In the land of others, evenings filled with sorrow
Every time the storm tears through the veranda...
2. A Poem
WIDOW
Poetry by Tú Uyên
Fearing the day the wind might take you away
Leaving me alone in the vast stream of life
With our young children, wilted by the call
The violin's cry intertwines with the night...
One day, my call for you remains nameless
In the cold winter night, under a lone blanket
Cold arms cradle a widow's existence
Mourning the leaf that clings to the dry branch forever...
3. A Poem
RETURNING TO MOTHER'S HOMELAND
Poetry by Tú Uyên
As the evening spills golden autumn sunlight
Do I return to the lullabies of old?
Slender storks sway in the gentle breeze
Oh mother, your voice wanders into my dreams...
I return seeking pieces of my childhood
Tears well up for mother's silver hair at dusk
I return to the leaning straw roof
Fearing the storm, fearing the kite's string may break...
Fearing the day the bananas ripen on the tree
Mother follows the crane, hastily ascending to the heavens
No more will I hear your tender lullabies!
The hardworking stork... a lifetime... is no more?...
4. A Poem
WRITTEN FOR YOU AT FULL MOON AGE
Poetry by Tú Uyên
I write for you as you reach the full moon age
At fifteen, you're no longer a child
I give you half my love
The other half from mother, her milk just as sweet
You came to me like a star
Falling in mid-autumn, as shadows tilt at dusk
Tears well in our eyes, an unfamiliar choke?
Wide-eyed, you look at me, puzzled
Knowing someday... not far
You'll spread your wings, leaving this small nest
I wish you strength on life's path
Still, remain my little girl, okay?
My dear.
5. A Poem
THE WAIT...
Poetry by Tú Uyên
How long has it been, my dear
since we last sat down to talk?
Is life's demand too stark,
or do we scratch open wounds we've let heal over time?
I've searched among humankind
for the crack that either by chance or design
split us apart.
You curse the thirteenth zodiac sign,
while I refuse to see women as venomous snakes,
but only the harsh words that let love grow moldy over time...
It's been a while
since a hand loosely held another,
cold, stiff...
marking days of exhaustion.
Turning away in bed, suddenly startled... a wet pillow.
Happiness, a distant dream...
wearily waiting?...
How long has it been
since we looked into our child's eyes,
frightened, pleading against bitter words?
They need not know,
Just a light touch of pain
and parents part ways?
How long...
Dear...
Are we waiting for love's word?
6. A Poem
SELF-ADMONITION
Poetry by Tú Uyên
(A dialog with the flow)
Does the sinking happen with the season's birth?
Joy and sorrow follow fate, the fault lies within.
If one is humble, why fear disgrace?
Better than wealth sought for false grace.
For those who sow malice, forget kindness,
And spread evil intent must abandon love.
Let these words be a lesson, as also the way,
Lotus reaching for Buddha, in prayer we sway.
7. A Poem
JUNE 1ST FOR CHILDREN
Poetry by Tú Uyên
(Dedicated to the little angels on June 1st, especially to my little princesses)
I will tell you, my child,
about the buds
that withered before becoming trees,
Never sipping the morning dew,
nor greeting the sun.
I will also share with you
about lives
never hearing soothing lullabies,
Rocked gently in the cradle by mother's hands.
I have shown you
the small figures,
struggling to survive,
the orphans with no one to call their own,
Faces smeared with sweat,
Wide eyes looking at the world unflinchingly...
And my dear child!
You are far luckier than many,
Having a father to rely on through the years...
Look far into the future,
Share love while you can,
For life is a tumultuous sea,
The warmth of human kindness is more precious than jewels, my child!
8. A Poem: The Woman of Many Sorrows 2
THE WOMAN OF MANY SORROWS 2
Poetry by Tú Uyên
The woman tears apart her pain,
weaving it into a tattered mat.
Loneliness fails to warm her soul,
As she sits through the night, waiting for dawn,
The morning star forever hidden in the dark...
The woman has spent countless nights
blaming her impulsiveness.
Bowing her head into the darkness,
Lamenting her fate,
Why endure a life of many sorrows?
The woman,
halfway through a life of beauty,
Is happiness sad,
or is it just late in arriving?
Daring not to dream beyond the silk cocoon?
The woman has lost herself within my soul...
9. A Poem
THE WOMAN OF MANY SORROWS 1
Poetry by Tú Uyên
The woman
hides her tears in the night
Clamping her lips
to mute her sobs
Alone in thought while the world sleeps soundly
And alone, she keeps vigil with the moon and stars...
The woman
secretly buries her desires
The madness, the fleeting angers of love
Many nights spent
crying over naive times
When love was just a distant shore...
The woman
never allows herself to dream
For dreams are far-flung
and her reach too short
And tonight, like many silent nights
She weeps for life, for all that's unfinished...
The woman of many sorrows...
10. A Poem
THE WOMAN OF DEEP SORROWS 3
Poetry by Tú Uyên
The woman
who never learned to cry
Tears turned to falling drops
rolling through a life of toil
Silently gathering each sound of love...
The woman dares the endless nights
Despite her thinning silhouette, ignoring worldly whispers
Despite the unfinished fate
She wraps her life around her children's dreams...
The woman,
half her life now wilted
Became a longing wife, waiting for love, exhausted
Love flits away
beyond her reach
Alone, she sips on her solitude...
The woman now has grown stronger...
11. Poem: Grasping the Void
GRASPING THE VOID
Poetry by Tú Uyên
He dreams of the day she arrives
Pressing a kiss upon his sorrowful brown eyes
He silently wonders...as the evening rain suddenly pours
The person afar, close yet thousands of miles away...
He dreams of a sun-faded afternoon
Opening his arms to tightly embrace another
Feeling each other in the tips of their toes
The sun too blurs behind the memory...
He wishes to ask across the vast distance
Are you willing to grasp...the void?
