ngày 11-11-1918

Cac ban than men,

Ong thay day Su Dia da quen ngay 11-11-1918, ngay dinh chien (Armistice), ngay le chien thang (Fete de la Victoire).  Nho doi bung giua duong ghe quan Burger King tim chut thuc an cho do doi.  Toi duoc nhac ngay 11-11-1918 cach day dung 100 nam khi thay mot ban co cam co, cam bong hoa, mot cai dia va muong nia danh cho nhung chien si vo danh khien toi bung tinh.  Ngay con nho chi nghe anh Kashmir ca bai Hon Chien Si mot lan ma toi nho mai loi bai ca den den bay gio.  Nhieu lan hoi doc gia ban ve tac gia bai nay.  No ra doi trong hoan canh nao va bi buc tu khong thay ai ca vao luc nao? tai sao? nhung chua co cau tra loi kha tin nao ca.

Toi an voi va dung cuoi dau truoc cai ban nho dac biet roi ra ve.  Doc duong toi nho co mot bai tho do toi sang tac 30 nam truoc, loi le tho so, vung ve vi khong co nang khieu ve van tho.  Xin goi den cac ban de doc nhan le ky niem 100 nam  de nhat the chien cham dut.  

Ben thang tran: Pha, Anh, Hoa Ky, Y.  

Ben bai: Duc, Ao- Hung, Tho Nhi Ky.  

Nga khong co mat.  Truoc do vai thang Lenin ra linh cho Trotsky ky hiep uoc Brest- Litovsk voi Duc nhu mot su den on Duc dua ong ve Nga lat do chanh phu Kerensky, chanh phu lam thoi ra doi sau khi Nga hoang tuyen bo thoai vi vao thang 02 nam 1917.  Lenin lat Kerensky cho khong phai lat Nga hoang Nicholas II nhung ong la nguoi ra linh giet ca gia dinh Nga hoang. 

Van Su Lanh

Than

phamdinhlan (david)

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From: David Pham <davidlanpham@me.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2018 4:36 PM
To: David Pham
Subject: Pham Dinh Lan - the warriors' homecoming

http://www.art2all.net/tho/phamdinhlan/english/phamdinhlan_TheWarriorsHomeComing.html

http://www.art2all.net/tho/phamdinhlan/english/phamdinhlan_TheWarriorsHomeComing.html

Pham Dinh Lan - the warriors' homecoming

Peace re-established,
The warrior returns home.
He walks on the deserted path.
His body is partly mutilated.
*
The village bamboo hedge is burnt,
His home reduced into ash;
His friends separate from one another.
Everybody complains.
*
For the cause of his Fatherland,
He sacrificed blood and parts of his body,
Youth, hope,
And his first juvenile love.
*
Returning to his origin,
He deems peace is reigning,
Everybody is happy.
What a surprise!
Sobs, mournings,
Imprisonment, oppression
Are found everywhere
In his lovely Vietnam.
*
No more war!
But no real peace!
The war continues
Via delirious complaints.
*
Petrified, the warrior sits
By his mother's grave,
Sobbing and holding his face in his hands.
His mother remains silent.
*
On the way home,
He deems he’ll take care of his mother,
Share joy and bitterness with her
In her twilight years.
*
What a sorrow!
His mother left the world
Without saying good- bye.
It’s no doubt she regretted
Not to see her dear son
The last day of her life.
*
From the bloody battlefields,
The warrior is still alive
Although some drops of his bloods
Were deeply absorbed in the entrails of his Fatherland.
*
In his quiet village
His mother passed away.
So did his fiancée,
Leaving an unfinished love symphony
And her last farewell words
Which are tragic and grievous.
*
How about his friends?
They’ve already gone
To a certain horizon
Without any promise of returning.
*
In a stupor the warrior
Meanders around the village temple,
And finds his lonesome rest
In the shade of the banian tree.
*
During his fatigue sleep,
Due to hunger and suffering,
He has a nightmare, seeing
Blood, fire and destruction.


DAVID LAN PHAM, F.A.B.I.