[News] Vietnam Victory poems

[News at freedomarchives.org]

For the 30th anniversary of the Vietnamese victory!

Ho Chi Minh:

1969 New Year's Greetings

Last year, we gained glorious victory,
This year we should gain even greater ones
For Independence
For Freedom
We fight until the U.S. leaves
Till the puppets fall.

March on!
Dear soldiers!
Dear people!
North and South reunified-
Could there be a more beautiful Spring?

Vietnamese Children's Song

The enemy is not people
Kill people, who shall we live with then?

The enemy's name is cruelty
The enemy's name is no conscience
Its name is hatred; its name is bitterness
It's a group of phantoms

The enemy wears a coat of doctrine
The enemy wears the false front of freedom
It wears a deceiving appearance
It sifts and twists our words

People, oh people, have compassion for the weak
People, oh people, have compassion for the innocent
Have compassion for the sellouts
Have compassion for the cheats
Have compassion for those who pity us

The enemy's name is unjust accusation
The enemy's name is ignorance
Its name is greed
Its name is selfishness
Its name is jealous hatred

The enemy is no stranger
It lies here, inside each one of us
The enemy is covetous eyes
The enemy is an arrogant head
In a lonely head
In a narrow mind
In the dream of conquering

People, oh people, love people more and more
People, oh people, love people as people
Love people forever
Love people night and day
Love people hand in hand.

The enemy is not people

Kill people, who will we live with then?

The enemy is no stranger
It lies here, inside each one of us.


News of Victory   by Ho Chi Minh
The Moon opens my window, asking:
"Is your poem ready yet?"
-Wait a minute, Moon,
I am still busy on military matters
And can't possibly compose poetry.
-Just a moment, Moon.
There, the mountain bell
Awakens autumn dreams,
 From the front lines
News of victory has just arrived!



Vietnam Victory Poem (Lincoln Bergman)

Victory
                      is a child
Crying out in first breath
To celebrate life

Victory is a child
The labor has been long
Now all must work
To help the child grow strong

Victory is a child
Going to school
Learning to read and write
To spell:
V is for Vietnam, for vigilance, for victory of Vietnm must be protected
I is for Independence, as in "Nothing is More Precious Than Independence 
and Freedom"
C is for the children, for courage, and for Communism
T is for tenacity, for teaching, and for truth
O is for organization, without which there cannot be
R is for revolution, for reconstruction, reunification, and
Y is for yes, yes it has finally happened-the VICTORY of Vietnam

and Y is for you
and you, and you, and you, and you
for every person on this Earth
who played some part in

Victory


On to Victory    for Ho Chi Minh   (by Lincoln Bergman)

I. We Say

He lived to hear
His nieces and his nephews
Sing the songs of revolution
And they sing.

He lived to see
The towers of the new
Rising ever higher
And they build.

He lived to touch
The outstretched hand of freedom
To hold it in his hand
And they grasp it.

He lived to smell
The flowers of the children
In the air of independence
And they breathe.

He lived to taste
The fruits of victory
To sip the tea of happiness
We must win.

II.  He Said

I remember when
I became a man
Despising oppression
Determined to end it.

I remember when
I travelled and studied
Through practice becoming
A Communist.

And I remember when
Imprisoned and tortured
The poetry of hope
Broke through the bars.

It was not me, it was the people
We organized and fought
So many fell
But fell in victory.

And even now
The struggle deepens
Fighting while we build
To freedom.

III. We Say

Uncle, comrade, teacher
Pushed up from
Oppression's soil
To march among us.

Uncle, comrade, teacher
We learn from you
To gather millions
Who will guard your memory.

Uncle, comrade, teacher
You march among us
Leader of the revolution
Bringing power to the people.

Grief at first
But it is overcome
By all that you have done
By all that we must do.

High on every terraced mountain
Rises rice of revolution
Join us in the harvest
We shall win.



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