This bouquet is for my deceased comrades/ Who have contributed to our victory, but are not present at this monument/ For those who have carried with them the wounded pain/ That the ocean of time could never ever heal... (Poetry of NGUYEN MINH KHIEM)
On receiving the flower bouquet
NGUYEN MINH KHIEM
This bouquet is for my deceased comrades
Who have contributed to our victory, but are not present at this monument
For those who have carried with them the wounded pain
That the ocean of time could never ever heal
I am ashamed every time I come to get those bouquets
For every bouquet that I embrace in my hands
I embrace the pain that runs deep in my vein
Of the blood many soldiers have shed through every petal
I am the lucky one who has survived
While my comrades have received countless fragmentation
My name has been made alive by thousands of names
Thousands of names in a birth certificate
I do not dare to call this a song
Your voices from underneath have echoed back
One little piece of paper has made the time stand still
To remind me, the alive survivor, to never forget
Ham Rong Bridge may change tomorrow
The next generation may not know this present moment
The Ma River may shine its color on the computer screen
In our hearts this verse remains
I distill the essence of every word
I imprint the heart with the beats from the rivers and the streams
I can hear every footstep, I can see every face
That reflect in the burning color of Ham Rong Bridge
Like the burning incense in memory of my comrades
I write a new verse onto the heart of the land
I hope that my comrades can feel the blood drop from my heart
As the offering flowers on your graves
My poem will fly up to the blue sky
To welcome my comrades back with shiny dawn
Translated by ThuyAnh Nguyen