How To Kill The Enemy?

Ngu Yên 1952 (Qui Nhơn)



How prolonged does it take to be a true enemy?
What severe crime is worth as an enemy?
Does killing the enemy end the feud?

That night, I met my adversary,
looking for vengeance.
In the dark, I saw his crimson eyes
like a fiery hearth place overflowing with blood.

Aiming my M16 gun,
towards the center of his chest,
taking a deep breath,
then half-breathed,
promising not to miss the target.

How prolonged does it take to be a true enemy?
What severe crime is worth as an enemy?
Does killing the enemy end the feud?

At that moment,
I realized,
crimson eyes like my father's indignant eyes,
once I skipped school after I was fifteen.
Crimson eyes like my brothers, my sisters,
the day my mother passed away.
Crimson eyes like my wife's
going away from our homeland.
My crimson eyes
while my baby was severely ill.
Vietnamese crimson eyes
when discriminated against, bully.

Dropping my gun,
I turned around,
feeling calm.
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Submitted by tienn.62883 on May 07, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
10

Quick analysis:

Scheme AAB axcx dxxxx AAB xxcxxxxxcxca dxx
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 893
Words 164
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 3, 4, 5, 3, 12, 3

Ngu Yên

Ngu Yên, pen name of Nguyen Hien Tien, was born in 1952 in Kim Chau Binh Dinh, South Vietnam. Great, according to Nha Trang. Mature in Saigon. Law and Literature student. He arrived in the United States in April 1975, currently residing in Houston, Texas. He also self translates his works into English. His works appeared on Vietnamese magazines of literature in US, Canada, Australia, and French, such as Văn Học Magazine (US), Hợp Lưu Magazines (US), Văn Magazines (US), Việt Magazine (Australia), Quê Mẹ (French), Làng Văn Magazine (Canada). His works also appeared on Vietnamese literary Websites, such as damau.org (Us), gio-o.com (Us), tienve.org (Australia), diendan. forum (French), vanviet.info (Vietnam.) It displays his published books on Amazon and Academia.edu. Ngu Yên's Website: https://tiennguyen228.academia.edu/research https://www.literaturebyngu-yen.com/ more…

All Ngu Yên poems | Ngu Yên Books

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