wild shrubs slithered across half-covered earth
giant stemmed grass caresses beaten tombs
the wind hums lullabies of rest – of peace.
uninvited, restless guests stirred settled dust.
one yearns for the serenity –
but it will not accept one’s wrong circumstance
the woman in me learned – later more clearly
the other in him will not survive – yet the other actions in him
contradicts the stubborn mind.
did the other in him seek to discover, experiment, or destroy?
one soul in me unquestioned – I or she did not care
for I or she too is mad.
reality is cruel when our ideal is tarnished
the other or he blamed fate, this one or I blamed life.
the sun falls beneath the horizon
the gate-keeper wakes up to lead
people of the living from the land of death.
tomorrow the sun will rise.
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the blogger, poet, and translator, was born in 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm 