A French war-ship at the bottom of Đà river
  NGUYEN ANH NONG

A French war-ship was discovered at the bottom of Đà river
It was fired and sunk by Uncle Ho's soldiers in 1951
Feeling grieved, it thanked the workers for dredging the river
Half of a century… and then it saw the blue sky for the first time
It was surrounded by the veterans, the new recruits, the workers…
Each of them looked at the war-ship with different mood.

In the spring morning of 2000
They collected the remains and brought them to somewhere,
scattering some rough bones on the floor,
scattering some rusted screws here and there,
scattering some silly ravens everywhere.

The giant crane – lifted the huge war-ship
like an old car carried a miserable road.
Then the green grass field greeted the guilty ship with its generosity.

The ship looked like a warrior with lots of wounds
It was lying on the grass, seeing the blue sky, and thinking…