Like many of his contemporaries, the Vietnamese poet Che Lan Vien (1920-1989) participated in the country's struggle against foreign rule. While his early poems reflected his nationalist passions, his later poems, like the one below, took on a darker hue.

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Graves

Che Lan Vien

Bury it deep, the smile on your red lips,

and choke it dead, the song inside your throat.

Stop looking for the fresh, bright hues of flowers

and listening for the silver tones of birds,

Because each joy now only brings to mind

those crazy dreams once smouldering in the soul,

those sorrows festering in the heart's dark jail;

inside sad eyes, all images of youth.

The past is one long row of tomb on tomb.

The future is a row of graves unfilled.

And do you know, my friend? The present, too,

is silently interring all our days.

In summer heat the lush, green leaves grow dim

to set the stage for autumn soon to come.

And one by one our days of youth fade out

to weave the graveclothes that will shroud our soul.

Translated by Huynh Sanh Thong

*Third World Resurgence No. 295, March 2015, p 44