The Lullaby of Mother Vietnam / Lời Ru Mẹ Việt Nam
Poem by Tuệ Nga , Music by Vinh Dien
English translation by Vuong Thanh, 2019

"À ơi", the sweet lulling sounds from gentle Mother

Her lullaby warms even the mountains and rivers

Mother’s love is beautiful and pure

With fragrant hands, she opens thousands of history pages

O Mother, O Mother Vietnam

Your love’s in a thousand melodies of lullabies

You teach your children to be just and compassionate,

to remember their roots and heroic ancestry.

Vietnam’s like a sad river branch with many twists and turns.

The moon dimmed, the water murky, the poor people, the bloodsheds…

Now, Mother’s voice is low, deep and sad

The two abysmal dark regions, a single source of suffering

Gentle Mother with shining virtue like a mirror

Her Flower of Compassion grows in her children’s garden

Mother sings a wonderful lullaby

Mother sings a lullaby of Love of Flowers and People…

     The Best of Viet Poetry          Tuệ Nga