A String Of Home Poem by VO THI NHU MAI

Poet: Vo Thi Nhu Mai
From: Western Australia

From the first note in Saigon
she brought the music of her land
across oceans and seasons
letting the zither sing under the neon light

Many years of gathering sounds
each class, each concert is a small flame
that lit the faces of those who dared to hope
with the light of remembered songs
In every soft pluck of the string
a courtyard blooms
a bowl of rice steams
a child listens and begins to dream

Hue singing lives not in a single place
but in the hands gracefully play
and the hearts that stay
as long as the zither rings
Vietnam is near

© Vo Thi Nhu Mai