"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."
--President George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789
A Candle for Saigon
Twenty-four tear-dripping candles in the darkest night
After the last dawn of freedom and liberty
Saigon, 30 April 1975…
Twenty-four Autumns later, you are still awaiting me.
Who changed your name to Ho Chi Minh?
As if Adolf Hitler were a sweet German city
Saigon my love
Your soul is an eternal candle within me…
Linh Duy Vo
(The Boy in the Poem)
April 30, 1999 ©
Excerpt from "No More Vietnam" by President Richard M. Nixon:
"The idea that Ho Chi Minh was primarily a Vietnamese nationalist has no basis in fact. Instead of cooperating with nationalists to win independence, he spent his entire career eliminating all independent nationalists, even if this meant openly collaborating with colonial France. Though he used the rhetoric of nationalism, Ho was first and foremost a Communist totalitarian. He used nationalism to serve communism rather than the other way around."
Pen-and-ink drawing by Truong Buu Giam
"Thanks, poet, for the piece of memory. It sweetly reminded me the first time I saw this monument when I landed at Tan Son Nhut Airport
on my first tour of duty." --Ron
