Lê Ðình Nhất-Lang

Customs

- Dear sirs let us know the truth please!
- Dear sirs let us sleep with our spouses
please!
- Dear sirs let us breathe please!
- Dear sirs let us be equal before the law
please!
- Dear sirs let us think other than you do
please!
- Dear sirs let us fight against corruption
please!
- Dear sirs let us have freedom of speech
please!
- Dear sirs let us form our curbside clubs
please!
- Dear sirs let us write this poem please!
- Dear sirs let us loathe you and protest you
please!
- Dear sirs let us have freedom of demonstration
please!
- Dear sirs let us have freedom of voting
please!
- Dear sirs let us defend our country please!
- Dear sirs let us learn foreign languages
please!
- Dear sirs let us protest Chinese occupation
of our Hoàng Sa – Trường Sa 1 please!
- Dear sirs let us be smarter than you
please!
- Dear sirs let us go to our temples and
churches please!
- Dear sirs let us read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights please!
- Dear sirs let us own the piece of land our
ancestors left behind please!
- Dear sirs let us denounce you please!
- Dear sirs let us be Vietnamese please!
- Dear sirs let us keep our traditions please!
- Dear sirs let us love our families and
friends beside you please!
- Dear sirs let us build up our country
please!
- Dear sirs let us know the total area of our
lands, islands and seas please!
- Dear sirs let us know the name of our
country in the next 20 years please!
- Dear sirs let us not follow you please!
- Dear sirs let us live privately without being
watched please!
- Dear sirs let us kick your butts please!
- Dear sirs let us love our country please!

- Dear sirs let us walk with our own legs
please!
- Dear sirs let us publish this poem after it is
written please!
- Dear sirs let us wait for you to arrive and
arrest us please!
- Dear sirs let us refuse you please!
- Dear sirs let us wish that we had no
wishes please!
- Dear sirs let us pursue our happiness and
unhappiness please!
…………………………...
Sirs/madams
Stop asking sirs/madams please!

_____________________

1. The Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands

Original: Thói – Bùi Chát
Vertaling: Lê Ðình Nhất-Lang
Uit: One-rhyme Poems – Bài thơ một vần, Eva Tas Books