Selected Poems of Ho Chi Minh

Selected Poems of Ho Chi Minh

 The Flute of the Fellow-Prisoner

Suddenly a flute sounds a nostalgic note;
Sadly the music rises, its tune is close to sobbing:
Over a thousand miles, across mountains and rivers,
Journey’s an aching grief. We seem to see a woman
Climbing a far off tower to watch for someone’s return. 

A COMRADES PAPER BLANKET

New books, old books,
the leaves all piled together.

A paper blanket
is better than no blanket.

You who sleep like princes,
sheltered from the cold,

Do you know how many men in prison
cannot sleep all night?

Autumn Night

In front of the gate, the guard stands with his rifle.
Above, untidy clouds are carrying away the moon.
The bed-bugs are swarming round like army-tanks on manoeuvres,
While the mosquitoes form squadrons, attacking like fighter-planes.

My heart travels a thousand li towards my native land.
My dream intertwines with sadness like a skein of a thousand threads.
Innocent, I have now endured a whole year in prison.
Using my tears for ink, I turn my thoughts into verses.

GOOD DAYS COMING

Everything changes, the wheel
of the law turns without pause.

After the rain, good weather.

In the wink of an eye

The universe throws off
its muddy cloths.

For ten thousand miles
the landscape

Spreads out like
a beautiful brocade.

Gentle sunshine.
Light breezes. Smiling flowers,

Hang in the trees, amongst the
sparkling leaves,

All the birds sing at once.
Men and animals rise up reborn.
What could be more natural?

After sorrow comes happiness.
And one after being released from prison.

Protest by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  Protest
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox 

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised

Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.

The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;

May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and childbearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.

Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave.

Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save

The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.

Precepts for Young and Old by Henry William Bidwell

 Precepts for Young and Old
by H. W. Bidwell

I’d like to speak a word to you, my pretty, careless child!
I’d learn the spell that daily lures you ’midst the blossoms wild,
I’d join you and the butterflies with which you sport and play,
As innocent, as beautiful, as fairy-like as they.
I’d like to scan the purity that halos your fair brow,
To fathom all the gentle thoughts that through your bosom flow—
But oh! the wish is doubly vain, ’tis not for heart like mine
To enter that pure heaven which forms the fairy land of thine. 

I’d like to speak a word with you, my timid blushing maid—
Pausing at every step you take as if you were afraid!
As if by instinct you foresaw the weeds of woe and strife,
That grow up in the pathway of your unseen future life.
Oh! happy, ten times happy, were you could you shun the wild
And rugged waste; and turning back for ever, be a child.
You cannot! then I’d say to you, retain as best you may
The pure and holy freshness of your childhood’s cloudless day!

 

I’d like to speak a word with you, my bold and wayward youth!
I’d counsel you to cherish in your heart the love of truth;’

I’d caution you ’gainst wantonness and arrogance and pride,
And bid you fear your passions more than all the world beside.
I’d have you honour age whose precepts now you hear with scorn,
Remember! we were men, my boy, long, long ere you were born,
Have trodden long ago the path which you have yet to tread,
And now bequeath experience which may serve you when we’re dead.

I’d like to speak a word with you, brave sir, in manhood’s prime!
The world seems now your heritage, and ’tis so—for a time.
Aspire! for ’tis your birthright, but remember while you mount
You’re but a steward and some day must yield up your account.
You’re wealthy!—turn not from the poor! they share your right to live,
Or God would not have made them:—as you’ve received, so give;
Nor like the unjust creditor, seize all man’s laws allow,
You will need mercy at the last, see that you mete it now!

I’d speak to you, grey-headed man! now tottering at death’s door,
Gazing on life’s red page, by sin and sorrow blotted o’er.
How wistfully you eye that past you never may recall,
And wish, since life must end like this, you’d never lived at all.
Oh! look to Him whom you despised, while ’twas your lot to live;
Remember! mercy is His will; His first wish to forgive.
Haste! for that dark door opens! be saved while yet you may!
Alas! that it should close again, and you should pass away.

Grahamstown, October 1, 1863.

   

 

After a While Poem by Veronica Shoffstall

After a While
by Veronica A. Shoffstall

 

After a while

You learn the subtle difference between holding a hand

and chaining a soul

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

and company doesn’t mean security

And you begin to learn that kisses are not contracts

and presents are not promises

And you begin to accept your defeat

with your head up and eyes open

with the grace of an adult, not a grief of a child

After a while you learn that sunshine burn if you get too much

so you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul

instead of waiting for someone to give you flowers

And you learn that you really can endure

that you really are strong

and you really do have worth

Selected Poems from Nick Joaquin

Here are selected poems from my favorite author and National Artist, Nick Joaquin: 

 

The Martyr 

 

 Being in love means never having to say you’re sorry
After all, at some point in your life
That love was the most important thing to you,
That love might be the one that you hoped would last forever,
That love made you believe that destiny does exist,
And that love made you question,
Why you were afraid to fall in love in the first place.
At that time in your life,
Everything just seemed so perfect,
Everything seemed so beautiful,
Everything seemed to glow for you,
And you were my everything.
I wouldn't even think twice about sacrificing
my own happiness for yours,
I was even willing to bare up this walled but crumpled heart of mine,
Just so I could be with you.
All I ever did was care for you.
All I ever did was to make you happy.
And all I ever did was love you.
Being in love means never having to say you’re sorry
But I needed to ask forgiveness from the one who was hurt the most… Myself.

 

Happy Never After 

 

How could I possibly stay awake
Despite knowing what horrors await me In this life full of lies and despair
Where the only hope that remains Is having you near me.

And yet,
However I push myself towards you,
The more I feel like we’re never meant to be,
The more we try to reach each other,
The more I feel so alone.
How could I possibly live my happily ever after
Without you by my side

Where even the fairy tales pale in comparison
for how much I feel for you
When will He finish this chapter?
Does it even end
Surely, any end is better than a one left hanging
For a simple No, might simply be the best answer
Rather than to face the agony of waiting
and fear of the unknown.

Strangers at First Sight 

 

How could you possibly start from nothing?
And then end up as everything?
I never thought I’d feel this way again…
More like I pushed myself to never fall victim again
To this arresting feeling
How ironic is it, That what I wanted to lose the most,
Is what most people long for their whole life
I don’t know what to do,
Guess I’ll just ignore everything again,
Time to shut my senses to all the assaults that the world has to offer…
After all, I’ve suppressed everything so far
What’s one more to add?