"Vietnam haunts me into poetry!"

-Anonymous Vietnam Veteran

A ghost, from out of his past,
Arrived, to haunt him by mail;
News from a long lost lover,
Now ending a twenty year trail.
Imprinted deep in his memory,
A few days and hot autumn nights;
Clear crystal waters, lapped a beach,
Passions reached up to new heights.

After the fall of the South,
She escaped from there, somehow;
Although the fruit of their seeds,
She still resides in Vung Tau.
He would now turn back the clock,
Re-visit that changed foreign world;
At last meet with his daughter,
A young Vietnamese girl.

At Ton Son Nhat, the main airport,
Its old name ’twas long gone;
Yet few things still the same,
Since he was last in Saigon.
Through the sea of strange faces,
He spotted her, straight away;
Mirror image of her mother,
As if only, yesterday.

Standing apart from the rest,
Perhaps his bias at play;
Seemed so gorgeous to look at,
Dressed in her satin ‘ao dai’.
Her almond eyes? How she walked?
He simply just didn’t know;
Perhaps her laugh? How she talked?
Memories ..... from so long ago.

Flashing a smile he knew well,
She had judged him no blame;
In their short time allotted,
Revealing what’s meant by her name.
Choice of her mother’s, ’twas Thu Thüy,
Translated means: ‘Autumn Water’,
And recalling that night by the sea,
Appropriate choice for his daughter.

© Paul La Forest

Back| Home