A Love for Countryside

by Nguyen The Ky

Translated into English by Nguyen Thuy Hoa,
with revisions by John Liddy

Oh homeland! Like a lost person
Amidst city noise, a vainglorious place
With strange people, I miss dearly
A corner of a rice field, a village pond.

Oh homeland! I’m so out of place
On the political stage, a red and black
Hall of fame, pained when thinking
Of mother who tired in the rice field
And father’s blood dyed the battlefield.

Oh homeland, there is river of recollections
Rising towards blue faraway memories.
Once under the moonlight you hesitated,
I thoughtlessly drifted off shore.

Farmers from the countryside go urban,
Buffalo children grow old, others build
Fortifications, many forget the past,
Lose their way. Sadness, joy, dissolution,

Defeat; the soul of the countryside
Is like plants and land: Even when we
Return to the same dust, we become
Part of the long wide river.