black flower , a poem by a student from đà nẵng

we promise one another -poems from an asian war-
don luce and .... selected, introduced ... usa, 1971.


                                                                     b l a c k    f l o w e r

                                     a poem by a High School from Đà Nẵng

You sit in a car
With a foreigner
 And wave your hand .
Is it to  say goodbye to me, 
 Or farawell  to days that have passed ?
Your face reminds me of someone I have known ;
 I search my mind,
I try to remember who it might be
 Who has waved to me
 In bitterness or sympathy

 My God     It is you ,
 Whom  I love, whom I have spent happy  days with ;
Innocent and small ,
With soft cheeks and full lips
With virgin skin unblemished
With a scent fine as the frailest flower ;
The one I worshipped and respected .
And now all that is finished .
I remember when you were a student not long ago,
 Holding your palm-leaf hat against the sun
To shade your face ,
 Pouting when the teacher gave you a low mark .


Now you exchange your flesh for money.
Dress up in powder and perfume.
You are called Mrs . or Miss --
Does it matter ?
You are  a bitter glass of whiskey
Which people of a different color, different race
Buy to satisfy themselves .


And I, still just a guy
Who morning a night
Drags hid feet to the cafe we knew then,
Without money enough for two cups of coffee .
I look at the people.
I  look at you there ;
I look at everybody,
And I bow my head to wipe tears from my eyes .

I want to take the earth in my hands
 And squeeze it so tightly
The meridians will be squashed out of shape
So we,   following our seperate lines,
Will bever again meet under the great vault of heaven.
Because a dress is always beautiful .
 Don't you agree ?

Oh but the cruel truth is
The day I really say goodbye to you
I will instruct the sun not to rise
So I can hold you in my arms forever,
And will not tremble with fear ;
So no one will se me blush ,
And my shyness will be hidden .
    []



from :     WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER - POEMS FROM AN ASIAN WAR -
                DON LUCE, JOHN C. SCHAFER & JACQUELYN CHAGNON
              selected, introduced...
            (  Published  by The Indochina Mobile Education Project,
                Washington , DC, 1971  - p. 61-64 )