WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER / NHẤT CHI MAI / Don Luce introduced ...

 We promise one another /
 poems from an Asian war .


                                           N  h  ấ  t    C h  i    M a  i
                                 I am  appealing for Peace in the name of   man . 

                                           Nhất Chi Mai  was a teacher  and worked parttime in the Buddhist  School of Social Work in Saigon .  In 1967 ,  she told newsmen to come to the Từ Nghiêm Pagoda on May 16 .   When the day came she bought theree gallons of gasoline and went to the pagoda .  She arranged the ceremony there herself .  She put two pictures ,  one of the Virgin Mary and one of  Kwan  Yin  ( The Buddhist Goddess of Mercy and a bodhisattva )  beside her .  Near her she hung this poem :
                                                     
                                                                                              My Intention
                                                                            I wish  to use my body as a torch
                                                                            To dissipate the darkness
                                                                            To waken Love among men
                                                                            And bring Peace to Việt Nam .

She pored gasoline over her clothes and burned herself to death .   In a letter  mailed to her father and mother before she died ,  she said : 
                                                                           I have decided by myslef to offer my life,
                                                                           Not because I hate this world,
                                                                           But because I love it ,
                                                                           I love the country ,  the people and mankind 

 Nhất Chi Mai  did not  hate either side in the conflict .  In   a letter addressed to president Johnson ,  she said she " felt sorry for the fate  of American soldiers and their families .  They too have pushed into this absurd and ugly war . "  She was , however ,  puzzled at why the U.S. continued a wage war in Viêt Nam even though Americans seemed to sense that it was wrong .    " What kind of honor will the U.S. get from a victory over a tiny country like Việt Nam ? she asked .  " How will the U.S. be dishonoured if she realizes that being a big power she only wants to stop something she has done  wrong ? "
( Don Luce  )


                                                          I    s n e e l   d o w n   a n d    p r a y
                              Nhất Chi Mai  recited the following poem as the fire consumed her body

                                                    Why  do Americans  burn themselves  ? *
                                       Why do non-Vietnamese demonstrate all over the world ?
                                       Why does Việt Nam remain silent
                                       And  not dare to utter the word " Peace " ?

                                        I feel helpess
                                        And I suffer .
                                        If  being alive I cannot express myself ,
                                        I will offer my life to have my aspirations known .

                                        Is appealing for Peace a crime ?
                                        Is acting for Peace communism ?
                                        I am appealing for Peace
                                        In the name of Man .

                                        I join my hands and kneel down ;
                                        I accept this utmost  pain  in my body
                                        In the hope that the words of my heart be heard .
                                        Please stop it , my fellowmen !
  
                                        Please stop it , my fellowmen  !
                                        More than twenty years have elapsed ,
                                        More than twenty years of bloodshed ;
                                        Do not exterminate my people !
                                        Do not exterminate my people !

                                        I join my hands and kneel down to pray .

                                             ( Signed : NHẤT CHI MAI .
                                                                    The one who burns herself for peace )  

                               -------
                               *   Norman Mailer   , the American pacifist who burned himself in front of the Pentagon on November 2, 1965 ,  being regarded in South Việt Nam and a hero in the North .  In her letter addressed to her contrymen , Nhất Chi Mai said that " she was doing what Thích Quảng Đức and N. . Morisson have done ".  The self-immolataion of the Buddhist monk ,  Thích Quảng Đức ,  helped bring about the fall of President Ngô Đình Diệm in 1963 ."   

  Tu chính ngày 16 Feb. 2012 :

                          Nhất Chi Mai  ( 1934 - 1967) . Sinh ở   Tây  Ninh ( Nam  Bộ  ).  Tên thật Phan Thị Mai,  tự Nhất Chi  , tốt nghiệp Quốc gia Sư Phạm  56 ,   Đại Học Văn Khoa Sài Gòn 1964 , Cao Đẳng Phật Học  1966  .  Giáo viên trường Tiểu học Tân Định ( Saigon 3 ) .   Tưới xăng  tự thiêu trước sân chùa Từ Nghiêm  ( Saigon 10 )  năm 1967,  tròn 33 tuổi .  Có  để lại 10  di thư, nội dung  kêu gọi hòa bình , chống cuộc  chiến  tranh do   Mỹ đưa quân  vào Việtnam . 
                             Nhạc sĩ Phạm Duy mượn một số câu   thơ,  viết thành  ca khúc  ' Một Cành  Mai ' ( 1972 ). 
                             Hiện nay, Ủy Ban Nhân dân tp. HCM    đặt tên  một con đường thuộc quận Tân Bình mang 
 bút- danh- thơ   NHẤT CHI MAI .
                         Dưới đây nguyên văn bản việt ngữ  ' Chúng ta quỳ xuống '  , thơ  Nhất Chi Mai. . 
                        ( Theo  Wikypedia  /  Bách khoa toàn thư ) .

                                                                        CHÚNG TA QUỲ XUỐNG .
                                                                                 thơ  NHẤT CHI MAI  
                                                                             
                                                                            Sao người Mỹ tự thiêu  ?
                                                         Sao thế giới biểu íình ?
                                                         Sao Việtnam im tiếng ?
                                                         Không nói đến Hòa Bình ?

                                                         Tôi thấy mình hèn yếu  !
                                                         Tôi nghe lòng đắng cay !
                                                         Sống mình không thể nói
                                                         Chết mới được ra lời !

                                                         Hòa bình là có tội !
                                                         Hòa bình là Cộng sản ?
                                                         Tôi vì lòng nhân bản
                                                         Mà muốn nói Hòa Bình .

                                                          Chắp tay tôi quỳ xuống
                                                          Chịu đau đớn thân này !
                                                           Mong  thoát lời thống thiết
                                                           Dừng tay lại người ơi  !

                                                           Dừng tay lại người ơi !
                                                           Hai chục năm hơn rồi !
                                                           Nhiều máu xương đã đổ ,
                                                           Đùng diệt chủng dân tôi
                                                           Đừng diệt chủng dân tôi !
                                                           Chắp tay tôi quỳ xuống.

                                                               []

                                                              NHẤT CHI MAI .