Top 10 Most Famous Poems by Poet Thanh Tâm Tuyền

Here, I am the emperor with full authority,
for anyone who enters my domain
is completely free
to govern, with my spiritual laws to which they must submit
if they wish to enter my territory.
They are free to do as they wish
and may even throw the book out the window.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, *I Am No Longer Alone*, Người Việt Publishing, printed by Hợp Lực Press, finished on October 15, 1956

Like eyes,
Like an abandoned alley, this soul,
Today,
I hear a familiar tune,
The woman, whose name is
Farewell,
On a deserted train station platform,
The deep horn of a tram,
Full of memories.

If you’ve traveled from Hanoi to Hai Phong
or to Bac Ninh,
If you’ve gone from Saigon to Vinh Long or up to Thu Dau Mot,
That journey still belongs to no one but yourself,
Like a drunkard pouring a drink to sip,
Adding joy to the journey.
(Yes, you, who hate my poetry)
This journey is entirely solitary.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, *The Night the Sun Was Found*, Sáng Tạo Publishing, Saigon 1964

The road no one has walked,
The flowers no one has given,
The words still untold,
The vows, strange and unfamiliar,
In a space still untouched.

Warmth for words,
Under starlit nights in the eyes,
It begins with a gift,
Begins with a first promise,
With hands that hold, trembling,
Fingers silently talking,
Like wild rabbit footsteps
Running across sharp grass,
Hair dark like a chain of laughter
On lips shaped like green leaves,
Hasty kisses
Change the constellations,
I want to renew love.

In times of longing and yearning,
It feels like a journey between planets,
In a crowded street waiting,
Gentle dreams walking with everyone,
In an embrace that tightens,
The meaning of dreams,
Of images that make one think of death.

I must renew love,
Like fixing up a house,
Like building a city,
Like tending gardens,
Like gazing into the universe,
When the world is newly created,
Inviting lovers to join.

When the sun wakes up,
Asking for the arrival of spring,
To make the leaf’s lashes sleep,
To deepen the eyes of the sea,
To let the vast hill of flowers bloom,
The love poem is gone,
Nature’s language of love is one.
We must renew love,
Consider us the first to know how to love,
So others may follow,
And the children after us will know no sorrow.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, *The Night the Sun Was Found*, Sáng Tạo Publishing, Saigon 1964

No, no, I will not breathe my last tonight
The Grim Reaper can dance on my tongue
No, no, I reject it with both hands
I still want to live, I still want to live
My heart is full of sorrow
My soul is overflowing with bitterness
I am a person, just a different person
The dead still open their eyes here
Two hands tightly clutching the void
Imagining the happiness of tomorrow

Hey, Reaper, can't you hear?
Workers, students, farmers of Eastern Europe rebel
Hey, Reaper, can't you hear?
The awakening of the wretched North African nations

Do not make me say goodbye
My throat is still full of words
I have never wished for death
For the enemy will be at ease
I still want to live, I still want to live
We must achieve our legendary cause
We must fight for a peaceful revolution and freedom
For the brotherhood of all mankind, forever

Do not make me say goodbye
My soul is forever burdened with grievances
Oh, Grim Reaper, keep dancing on my tongue
I will not die with a smile, no smile.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Liên Đêm mặt trời tìm thấy, Sáng Tạo Publishing, Saigon 1964

I still live passionately, though I no longer have a face,
nor any sound. How could I know
what freedom truly means? They are cruel,
locking the door, unwilling to offer charity, the cries
for happiness just a beggar's misery.
Some days I wander aimlessly under the trees,
not knowing whether it's autumn, winter, or spring,
the weather is gone, leaving only my brow and
the sky, my hands and the clouds, my eyes lost in the void. I
believe I will revolt, I will start a revolution
with brothers from a day yet unwritten.
But then I realize I am dying, loving a woman who betrayed me.
She tears my body apart, tortures my soul.
She lets me see the blackness in her eyes,
a darkness that spirals deep, leading to the hellish path of love. I
look at no one else.

Should I love? I clutch her chest, crying
out in the long night, only hearing the sound of my own sobs.
I can feel the grass under me, insects softly whispering, my body ruined
and the morning that will never come.
Should I love? Love with all the essence of my being. And
her eyes spin like the universe returning to its origin,
dark and chaotic.

I crawl along the paths like a reptile,
lonely afternoons no longer feel like afternoons.
I miss so much; I should tear my body open, shatter my soul and throw
it into the sun, the heat rendering me senseless. I miss it so much, I miss it, I must
cross all obstacles with wings of the divine, to a place of an unspoken promise.
Yet I am paralyzed.

When I lie in the desert with my mouth full of dry sand,
there are no more images, no more sounds. I still ask myself, what is Freedom?
I have loved someone with the innocence of a poet's heart. The sky
is unbearably hot, the flies eating my eyes.
I still live passionately, even though today I barely have
enough breath to live. I still live passionately, even though I know no one
will come and kiss my lips to give me one more breath.
We have all betrayed each other, haven't we, my love?

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Liên Đêm mặt trời tìm thấy, Sáng Tạo Publishing, Saigon 1964

1.
At the summit of Hai Van Pass,
If you long for home,
If you wish to die,
Vu Dao Anh
The war still rages on (until when?)
Soldiers are stationed on the mountain slopes,
Gazing out at the sea,
No sun at dusk,
Alone in the forest,
The clouds stripped bare.
Vu Dao Anh
Smashes the neck off a bottle of beer,
Fires his gun into the sky,
The bullets will pierce my deflated chest.
Vu Dao Anh
The swallows still fly in flocks over the streets of Saigon at dusk.

2.
Cry, Nguyen,
In this season, the sea winds rage onto the mainland,
The city's sky is a prison,
The greenish hue carries the distant laughter of fleeting memories,
The late-night gamble,
The bullet has rolled and grown weary,
The record keeps spinning,
And then come sickness and poverty,
Returning to the old house,
Withered sheets and blankets,
Like the coffin of Thoai.

Cry, Nguyen,
In the nightly dreams,
The stage is silent,
The rain leaks onto the wooden floor,
Sweat between my chest and back,
The empty chairs seem to ask,
Why is there no candlelight?
No one brings a wreath,
To throw onto that grave.

When I wake,
No one holds me tight,
The long night hums a mournful tune,
The trumpet’s mournful cry,
Blown from the lips of the black musician,
Guilt fills the innocent eyes,
Endlessly telling tales of hopeless love,
All alone, pulling at my own hair.

Cry, Nguyen.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Liên Đêm mặt trời tìm thấy, Sáng Tạo Publishing, Saigon 1964

On the sea, where the waves roll in mist,
The day pours out like blood drying in the sun,
The waves crash violently against the island,
The doors of the winds open wide,
Cradling the blood that seeps from small pearls in the hands,
In the silent moment, a faint whisper of sorrow.

The island is so far away, my love,
On distant mountains, among the wild forests,
The winds howl with fury, a prisoner’s lament,
In a cruel dreamscape,
A long winter storm rages on,
Last night, a vicious bird perched in the dark tree,
Dropping a cruel heart,
Into a sorrowful cry,
Last night, the wind carried dreams up the mountains, fleeing,
Then the wind howled in despair,
In the shadowy hallway of death’s door.

The island is so far away, my love,
The sky changes color, lightning tears through the air,
The birds fly, the birds fly,
Into the season of nothingness,
As the shadow of the island sinks beneath the waves.

1972

I know of those who weep in solitude,
never ceasing for a moment,
those who cry, but their tears fall only within their hearts.
Do you understand,
tears are like green stones,
hearts weighed down with sorrow.

Sometimes I wish to believe
that the only things that matter in life
are the stars in the sky,
and beside those shining stars, your eyes.
Until the final day.

Sometimes I wish to believe
the world is filled with the sweet fruits of God,
and beside those fruits, your lips.
The beginning of the nectar of love.

Sometimes I wish to believe
the world is full of pure flowers and grass,
and beside those flowers, your arms.
In a tender embrace.

Sometimes I wish to believe
that those who weep in loneliness
are consumed with pain, their tears like green stones,
hearts weighed down with sorrow.

This poem was later adapted into the song "Nửa hồn thương đau" by composer Phạm Đình Chương.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, "I Am No Longer Alone", published by Người Việt, printed at Hợp Lực Printing House, completed on October 15, 1956.

He fears the streetlights crashing down
And the wires wrapping around us
Strangling every hope
So he takes my hand and leads me away

Let's go, we'll head to the park
Where I'll kiss you with passion
Oh, your lips are bittersweet
Like the sharp sting of pain
Let's go, and I'll take you to a bar
Where a touch of Paris lingers
And I'll become a poet
In the dead of night in Hanoi
I'm a fool in love
Holding you close yet already dreaming of the future
The horn blares its endless lament
The haunting tune pulls us together in despair
Youths’ sorrow is too heavy
Like a burning gaze of anger
Youths’ sorrow is too heavy
Like a table, disarranged and broken

But stand up, my love
The vendor has fallen asleep behind the counter
Let me take you away
From the torment of tomorrow.

This poem was later turned into a song, “Dạ Tâm Khúc,” by composer Phạm Đình Chương.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Liên Đêm Mặt Trời Tìm Thấy, Sáng Tạo Publishing, Saigon 1964

1.
I wait, growing with the storms
Today, the young cry on my shoulder
Searching for the touch of the sea
A sorrowful horse, flame escaping its gaze

Our land once trembled
I held the pain in my body
Rivers, fields, sharp peaks
The breaking roads, splitting hearts
Fingers clasped, flesh pressed
Like a lover's rejection, angered and pulled away

I wait, smiling brightly
Laughing across rooftops
The city and fields merge
Clutching my heart
The pulse of dead ends and village paths
Grass, flowers, drains, and stones
Old trees, wet mud, salty water
Bleeding, crying

2.
I wait
Lungs burning with fire
Lips full of shame
Dipping low in the suffering of my nation
Staring at the soles of worn-out shoes
Hearing the song of an unknown soul
Of love, of life

3.
The book begins to write
Eyes crave the light
Lips long for the moon
Hands demand the sun
And my chest is free
All of me, all for you

You rest your head in the mist
Talking in the language of shadows

I am as beautiful as my form
As life itself
As everyone
Just a little
You love me

You are the green leaf, the high cloud, the song
Morning wakes with longing
You are the flower, the smoke, the waves
The night painted in pink

The arms of the past, the infinite horizon
The final resting place
Beneath the stars, beneath the feet of the children

4.
I wait
For one, for many
In the city of scarcity
In the villages of torment
I am the voice, I am the cry
The ones who left and promised to return
The ones who held their breath, enduring
I wait
I am the poem, I am the laughter
Tomorrow, Vietnam, tomorrow, my Vietnam.

This poem was later adapted into a song by composer Phạm Đình Chương with the same title.

Source: Thanh Tâm Tuyền, Liên Đêm mặt trời tìm thấy, Sáng Tạo Publications, Saigon 1964