PROUD TO BE A VIETNAMESE / poems by THEPHONG

... Thephong's poems are dramatisations of the Vietnamese consciouness from the well of such thoughts. The poems are monologues, thoughtful efforts to discover both sense and " kindness" in the surrounding madness. The result is prehaps prolix sometimes, but that is a fault of his generosity. His detail,through counterpointing, is compassionate yo both victim and helper...."

LLOYD FERNANDO
Prof. of English,
University of Malaya

PROUD TO BE A VIETNAMESE
Translated b from the Vietnmaese
by Dam Xuan Can

Saigon,September 1968

You are Vietnamese slodier. Be proud
The unbreakable flow of bullets and rockets bruises you, staggers you,
singing the paraises
You are a beast of burden. Can you not love your country then ?

Do not envy anyone
even if you have to live at subsistence level
Americans are a special lot. They are stinking with money, their arsenal
is fanstastic...
Do you believe
that the pay of all of us, including yours
comes from their treasure ?
Just as one single dollar is worth more than two hundred Vietnamese piasters