POEMS FROM AN ASIAN WAR / Don Luce introduced .

We promise one another  /
 poems from an Asian war

                                                          Walton 's  Recreation Camp
                                                  a poem  by  CỬU LONG


Below are  excerpts from a  poem entitled  ' Walton ' s Recreation  Camp '  which was  written by a Vietnamese from Vũng Tàu who uses the pen name Cửu Long .   The writer sent it to the  newspaper Tin Sáng  which  printed the poem in its entirety .   The poet  said this poem was written on the first anniversary of the day the two American astronauts  landed on the moon .   The editor of  Tin Sáng  ,   in his  introduction to the poem ,   laments that the great scientific advancements of modern times have not been followed by a refinement of man's conscience  .
       ( Don Luce ' s  note ) .


                         Hawkins  ,  Anderson ,   Don  Luce  
                   You have seen  with your own eyes
                   Many cruel sights  ;
                   And you have heard  with your own ears
                   The soft voices in prison
                   of youthful girls ,
                   of old white haired women ,
                   of " Communists " monks ,
                   of the lamb of peace .
                   Sixteen years of our allies have been here ,
                   A hundred anf fifty months of suffering terrible disgraces :
                   " Movies " * of Chí Hòa  ,
                   The graveyard of Tân- Hiệp ;
                   Dachau ,   Auschwitz ?
                   Bachenwald ,  Mauthausen ?

      ------
      *    A room called the movie room at Chí Hòa Prison is famous for being
                the place where prisonners are tortured  .
                     ( Don Luce 's note ) .

                ( from  WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER  / POEMS FROM AN ASIAN WAR -
                   Piblished by the Indochina Moblie Education Porject  , Washington, D. C. 1971 ).