A
Map of Vietnam
by Đoàn
Văn Cừ
I would remember all
my life the story deep in my memory
The period of time
I was studying back in my home country
In a small house
under the shade of a dense country almond tree
With a plate of
“Peace Village Study Hall” hung so proudly
In those mornings
when the sun was high and shiny
Shining its light
on the nation, villages and fields in the country
We sat quietly,
concentrating, trying to listen intently
To the teacher’s
voice while he was lecturing in the hour of history
Our teacher said:
“My children, please remember very clearly,
That our country
is a country of great glory.
With so many heroes
and heroines of our nation,
Who have shed blood
for the country and its inhabitants.
My children, you
ought to study hard day and night, and ever
So later you can
follow the path of our ancestors.
I am certain that
after the changing of history and of time,
Our Viet people
will still be able to hold our heads high.
I strongly believe
nobody can eliminate our race,
A heroic one to
inherit our country of Vietnam, and that is our fate
Because in the pages
of a history of four thousand years
Many have fought,
won gloriously, and shed blood without fear.
We would be carrying
our deep resentment all our life
If our country Vietnam
has to suffer being divided
And the Vietnamese
people is split into two groups for good
Into North and South
regions without sharing the same root
We are determined
that we would not accept such scheme-to-be
Because all mountains
and rivers belong to the Vietnam country!”
My teacher’s voice
could be heard loudly echoed
Over the piles of
books, along the rows of glass windows
I am now still feeling
as if, in audit, I am attending
And seeing that,
in a group of youths, my teacher is eloquently speaking
In his determination
for the interests of the Dragon and Angel race
Maintaining whole
the map of Vietnam as determined in our fate.
Translated from Vietnamese
into English by Hương Cau Cao Tân
on 31 July, 2019,
in British Columbia, Canada
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