Best Phan Poems

Not many words left for you
my lips become icy
days and nights freeze on my skin, 
on my head, on my shoulders, 
on my back, and on every strand of white hair tonight... 

New year comes through the window, 
blows chilly wind into my bones, 
quivers...

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I.

Oh please, not to fade so fast into the afternoon
The one that is scattering in a goldenly swooning loneliness
The one that is shattering at a purply time of faintness
And the one whose wind is playing with so many violins

Because the wind will flow away a...

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I live in a town where all things go in
reverse. The bushes grow reversely,
shrink smaller back into seeds, and roll back
into the past-life seeds. The river flows

reversely, very swiftly. My friends,
my nephews and nieces, my siblings, and
my parents walk reversely, and
steadily become smaller, younger.

Helplessly, I...

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Just come along with me to the town 
where long time ago I bicycled, 
walked and ran about whenever
I wanted to smell the fragrance of Saigon

where I raised my hand  to salute the 
spirits while passing by the Lang Ong 
Shrine and bathing my...

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I sit breathing, feel the breaths in and out,
know the breaths long and short, wish the peace 
for heaven and earth, wish for soothing seasons 
of rain and wind, and wish for all to have 
enough food and clothing. 

I sit breathing, feel the breaths...

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Let Dust Blur The Pages
 
By Phan Tan Hai
     
Let's close the pages, where the dreams still linger
let pen and ink flow the lines of poetry on their own
words written down are the incarnation of flowers for life
just like the wind...

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How could I write about a time 
when I saw the wind 
and knew that your hair was so short,
when I saw the dry sunshine 
and knew that your cheek color was so pale,
and when I invited you to a festival 
and knew that you...

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On the paper at midnight
my writing hand feels tired
lines of poetry get blurred with fog

and my soul rolls
alongside the ink lines
unstoppable

farewell now
my writing hand gets so tired

saying farewell to you
the poet
with lines of words 
flowing from the memory

farewell to you, 
who walks ahead of me...

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Encrypting Your Name With Verse

By Phan Tan Hai

you can’t see your name between the lines
I put it on paper 
words from days and months
that have almost vanished
and see again among the
secret words
your face is stealthily appearing
chilling my soul every night.
   
I put it into...

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Vietnam was Fifty Years Ago
By Franklin Price
8/30/2018

Vietnam was fifty years ago
Around the world across the sea
God went with me on tour
Now it's just a memory

The Air Force was my service branch
Ground navigation was my field
 Pilots guided on their missions
From the stations we would build

I...

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Translating some sentences a day 
I see words of sorrow 
roll on paper, 
feel my mustache 
and hair hesitate to grow, 
and fail to grasp months and days. 

Translating some sentences a day
I see the ink 
print deeply the sorrow, 
scattering on paper 
my millions...

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you, this young lady
please keep really silent
on every step you walk
gently, please
just listen to every corner of the temple
where the wind from the ancient meditation forest whispers 
and recites the way of Buddha sitting soundlessly 

you, this young lady
please keep really silent
while reading the ancient...

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Let me catch sight of you in this 
life and in others, where your face 
hovers in the spring, summer, 
autumn and winter, when your black 
eyes twinkle along the curved 
words I have found again in this life.

Let me catch sight of you in...

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Having suffered years of grueling tyranny, 
Sand is still red which should be tawny. 
Iraq has become a land of widows 
Men are cruely killed there in rows. 

Due to war when families are separated, 
Children are those who are worst affected. 
Phan Thi Kim...

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Having suffered years of grueling tyranny,
Sand is still red which should be tawny.
Iraq has become a land of widows
Men are killed there in rows.
Due to war when families are separated,
Children are those who are worst affected.

Phan Thi Kim Phuc is name of that woman
Appointed as...

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