Top 10 Beautiful Poems by the Poet Bùi Giáng

Returning to Bình Dương

Poem: Bùi Giáng

He returns to the vast land of Bình Dương
Where fruits and the path are covered in green grass
The warm sunlight surrounds everyone
With the gentle smile of Southern Vietnam, peaceful as always
You return, carrying dreams on your shoulders
Greeting the spring, tipping your hat to the windy days
With joy and innocent eyes
Clouds tilt like tears blending into a dream
How deeply we love each other
He returns to this wide land, bowing to Bình Dương.

By the Coffee Shop

Poem: Bùi Giáng

To the Youth of Spring

The coffee is endless, like the pouring rain
Endless joys and sorrows calling each other
You walk from the front gate to the garden behind
Greeting Spring, unaware of the pain the rain brings

Unstoppable joy keeps pouring
The vast spring green trembles with anticipation
The present moment drifts, weightless
Here, snow and ice bloom into a future full of hope

The coffee remembers this day
A cup of tea promises to meet again next year
The elderly man bids farewell, fading away
Endless joys and sorrows dance in fleeting dreams...

Spring '95

Sacred Offering

Poem: Bùi Giáng

Did you think: this must be the way
There were moments when I clasped both hands tight
The beautiful muse of the world wept
And told me: remember these fleeting moments
B.G.

The day will end and I won’t stay
I will leave, uncertain of where to go
I will always mourn this world
For here, I have lived with both joy and sorrow

The trees, the plants, the sky, and the earth
Have watched me through the morning dew and the moonlit nights
I open my lungs to the vast wind
Stopping by the riverbank, by the sand, as we part ways

As the sunset falls, dawn rises in rhythm
Thousands of stars retreat before the red horizon
The bright day and peaceful night follow one another
Welcoming me with laughter and tears, countless times

I have sent my soul countless times
To distant clouds, to the willow's embrace
I placed the world in my hands
With my heart burning with longing

The river is too white, it calls me to open the door
The golden moon and stars urge my dreams to take flight
The wind stirs, blowing my thoughts in all directions
The three corners of the sky mourn the stormy night

How many times have tears flowed with yearning
How many smiles have burst with joy
How many silent faces, full of uncertainty
How many handshakes that tremble with a thousand emotions

Friends who see me as kin
Younger ones who give their hearts to me
Friends who nod and agree
Younger ones who lost their promises

Oh, world, I have come to live here
I have searched for the meaning of suffering
I lift my face to the endless clouds
I bow my head to the dark, low earth

I have accepted a hundred times with trembling
I have been shocked and lost on countless nights
I willingly surrender to madness to gain clarity
I am blind to love you completely

I vow to be faithful once and for all
Through times of sorrow amidst turmoil
My body of bones and blood, though fragile
Will follow you through every river and mountain

You stand at the prow, will I steady the oar?
Will my hand, holding the salt, dip in ginger?
I have pledged to love this world in its entirety
With all my soul and every inch of my flesh

I will love forever, endlessly
Oh world! Like butterflies, like dragonflies
Even the smallest ants, the wildflowers
Even bacteria and insects will love too

As long as one day remains, I will love you
As long as one night comes, under the stars and moon
My dreams will rise, unafraid
Reaching for the sky, standing on tiptoe

But oh, my dear world, we both know
That someday, I will say goodbye to you
I will die silently, hands bound, head bowed
The spring is almost gone, lost forever

Night falls with tears, my eyelids heavy
My hands, small as dry leaves
The petals have fallen, soaked in dew
How can I stop the endless fall of petals?

I leave here these sorrowful words
These words of love, a sacred offering to you
And then I lay my head on this empty page
You tell me,

- Don't despair, do you hear me?
The poem’s pages will bloom again with the red sky

Source: Bùi Giáng, Mưa nguồn, NXB Hội nhà văn, 1993

The Mad Man

Poem: Bùi Giáng

The mad man since yesterday
Until today, that's three days, it seems
Heaven's sky attended the conference
And the world shall change for a thousand years to come

* * *

The mad man from the very first time
To the last time, heartbroken and full of sorrow
Endless ocean, shallow rivers
Pink dust scattered, both before and after, here and now.

Greetings to the New Spring

Poem: Bùi Giáng

Let us greet each other on this road
With spring ahead and endless past behind
Though green hair may fade with time
The trees still promise to meet each other

Let us greet each other in this moment
With a thousand years watching trees and skies
As clouds descend near, gathering by
The water's edge, where I stand beside you

Let us greet each other with our hands
Five fingers, each revealing a tender touch
Each slender finger says farewell
But promises to remember, forever more

Let us greet each other with our lips
Where the red fades, and tears mark life
And say, with sorrow, I will bear
Now, joy without end, let me be the earth

Let us greet each other in the dust
From a distance, we see the clouds bowing

Ask, where is your homeland
Replying, I have been here long, in my home
Ask, where do you walk from
Why does the wind stretch far, over the endless fields
Replying, speaking more is wrong
Spring waits for someone to enter
Ask, what is the land of dreams
Why does it so whimsically greet us
Replying, farewells are for later
Only to meet again in the colors of the New Spring

Winter Afternoon

Poem: Bùi Giáng

Seven o’clock, doubt settles in
Fog blurs the scene, coarse leaves scattered
Writing words between the muffled sounds
The rain’s source leaves, time slips away

Across the field, flowers faintly bloom
A sigh from the top of a branch breaking silence
Chili trees in the forest, mountain herbs in the breeze
The mist rises, while the grass turns red as they gather

Eight o’clock, hastening on
From new light to the same night’s hue
Foggy memories exhale a sigh
Now, seven or eight o'clock, the night blends with the past

Six o’clock returns, etching more
The wild streams flow through this land
The mountains and forests return to night
The mist creeps in, suddenly innocent laughter rings

The Falling Leaves, The Blossoming Flowers

Poem: Bùi Giáng

As the year ends, the fences close tightly
On the body, the young maiden becomes a nun
The clear sky stands still, cold with vengeance
Her blue eyes, her raised brow, eternal and unchanging
Love is but a fleeting glance
Rising from the first cold wave of the year
One row moves slowly, another rushes ahead
The forest longs for the sea, its chill unrelenting
The body of the universe crumbles away
The tigers and leopards roar as prison blooms open
The soul departs to distant lands
Memories of spring echo, yet no words call her back
The flowers on the beach sway in the wind
What shall the leaves offer you
Dreams drift over distant lands
The night is sorrowful, wild dreams chase in a labyrinth
A vast region on the eastern sea
Autumn's wisdom gently settles in its perfect form
Presenting to the Dark Emperor and the King of the Underworld
Old monks expand the sorrowful reaches
A moment's dream stretches across eternity
Autumn’s magic brings life to ancient dreams
A vast region on the eastern sea.

When You Return

Poem: Bùi Giáng

You return many centuries later
Will the moon still bear its original hue?
As I leave, I send two lines of thought
Will the fallen leaves scatter through the mist?

What memories remain, cold as ever?
The autumn road splits, the vast horizon unfolds
This is the bustling cityscape
And this is the soul of watergrass, mourning unspoken love
The world that once belonged to you
The celestial stage I once held dear
Now, I await your delicate steps
How sorrowful to witness beauty fade away

Source: Bùi Giáng, Mưa nguồn, NXB Hội nhà văn, 1993

Who Goes to Monastery

Poem by: Bùi Giáng

The sky is sorrowful, the earth is late
From the start, you hastily went to the monastery
The horizon is full of resentment
The fault lies with the master, lost in the melancholy of flowers
Now, looking back, who among the people
Truly went to the monastery?

Sad Eyes

Poem by: Bùi Giáng

Late night, a sudden clearing in the fog
(Nguyễn Du)

The old sky's clouds have worn thin
A dream disturbs the mind, yet only two hands remain
The body, with its fragile form
Fighting through long nights, with storms in the air
The fish in the stream carries the water to the fields
The barren land cries out on the first day of the lunar new year
Farewell, December, turning away
The echoes of history flow endlessly

Leaving the moon and wind to the world
Leaving the waves of promises between the flowers
Leaving love, leaving the shadows
Leaving the body of a celestial swan in the sky
Now, facing myself alone
Only two eyes remain, weeping for the loss of one soul

Source: Bùi Giáng, Mưa nguồn, NXB Hội nhà văn, 1993