Because People Need The Sun

 Here is another of Nguyễn Đắc Kiên's poem from his poetry collection entitled The White Zero Circles (translated by Nguyen Khoa Thai Anh)

Because people need the sun 

I have not seen a night so long,

four thousand years, now nearly a hundred years.

all feudal dictatorship, to the colonial octopuses,

From troops, to kings, to idolatry, and neo red-capitalism,

generation after generation groaning under the yoke of slavery,

brutal tyranny chisels out the will of human.

My father, my grandfather, my generations sleep.

I have not seen a night so long.

no sun, only darkness reigns.

Evil force possesses absolute rule, 

brutal persecution, terrorizes and spreads unholy horror 

transform our lives into the maxim "you must have fear."

You must be frightened, you must fear,

afraid, must you fear forever?

Your core empty out, then your mind completely darkened,

Then again you spawn a flood of "fearful" offsprings 

generation after generation have silently carried their pitiful debt,

Would we mortgage our children tomorrow?

What are you waiting for and not waking up?

To live a life worthy of a real human on earth

I have not seen a night so long

Nor can I not see a tomorrow (impossibly and) brightly so

Because people need the sun

Wake up y'all, wake up!

Sent from my iPad