Joining hands I respectfully bow to mother and father

Grant me permission to leave home and go

Leaving, tears [?] cannot be sorrowful

Is this perhaps the last time we gather together

Now the wind swirls and pushes the clouds

The clouds must part from the whole flock of grandchildren and children

Next time the eyes seem worn and weary

No longer seeing the shadow upon these mountains and waters

Life is a matter of repaying and borrowing

I hope the clouds understand this feeling of mine

The child has fulfilled the duty of filial piety

My heart will forever keep faithful in worship!

Old age, so sad, oh dear!

Lacking people to visit, lacking private words

Grandchildren and children send no letters

No friends, feels like imprisonment

TV, deaf ears, as if mute

Sitting watching the news, gums aching in pain

Looking at the children, seeing sad faces

Whom can I confide the upheavals of life to!

The world, so many stories rising and ebbing

Relatives and acquaintances, lacking words of comfort

Most siblings have withered away

Have gone to the Western Paradise, all ties ended!

A thousand years, just hoping for a peaceful sleep

Broken now this lifetime, the next chapter we shall see!

Far from home, having friends from the same homeland

That is the Buddha's blessing, or given by Heaven.

Together happy, together singing, together chanting

To forget the past with all its terrifying worries

Vietnam is a matter to discuss together

Whether men or women, must unite together

Resist the invaders who steal the country, the Chinese enemy

Resist the terrorists, front and back guard the home

Vietnam is our country

Forget everything else, put the Vietnamese home first

Lest the rafters holding the roof [?]

But the foundation must be solid to build anew

An evening dish with rising steam!

Both tasty and sweet, Nhi invites the elder to eat

The elder need not toil

The dish is finely ground, the elder eats it easily

At first glance one thinks it's sweet potato

Because of shape and form, the golden color so lovely

Actually it's milk macaroni

With three pieces of cheese mixed right in

If the elder should wish

To eat another bowl, the child goes to the kitchen to cook

Folk often say whoever is short

Eating this dish, no more short—becomes tall!

This girl, American name Sophia

And the Vietnamese name is Thiên Vy

Born in the United States

Federal Way is the town where Thiên Vy was born

Clear sky, cool breeze, so beautiful

The father is uncle Nhật who expresses such joy!

Nguyễn Lê Kim is the mother who welcomes and hands over

The birth registration immediately fulfilled the wish

Two thousand seventeen is the year

March, day [?], a gentle precious hour!

The face chubby and pretty

Limbs firm and straight, so joyful

This blessing has come [?]

Thanks to Heaven, thanks to Buddha who filled it full

April, the first day, gathered together

Celebrating the full-month, building golden dreams

Hoping for good health and strength

Then learning to roll over, steadily learning to walk

Heaven grants mother health, how joyful!

Wishing mother longevity, coming and going truly happy

Near and far, the heart feels wistful

Visiting the children, wishing it to last truly long

Vijay, the family hopes for luck

Lena, good work, blessings coming to achieve merit

Ravi, skin flesh rosy and pink

Walking firm and steady so fearing nothing

Thuận with mind and will

Steadfast, diligent, whatever prayed for is granted at once.

A man, the pillar in the home

Success with a wife, helping out, helping in

Harmony, the key of one's wishes

Enough to eat, enough to wear, hoping for better

Husband and wife affectionate through life

Daughters and sons educated like mountains, seas and rivers

Morning and evening caring for mother and father

With the helpers, always grateful

Friends and neighbors not peeked at

Helping people in peril and dire straits

Work pursued with determination

Fulfilled truly well, always earning praise

In the home, blessing is the lamp

When the lamp shines bright no darkness remains

Precious indeed a good heart, a loyal soul

'Thank you,' those two words, carried in each thing

So many years of joy trampled and buried

Now it shines out, reaching overflowing joy

Life's affairs, so many wistful moments

When the mind is good, no more misfortune, no more sorrow

So many years studying through the night

So many years of experience laid to head, laid to heart

Far from home, far from country, silently

Helping the Vietnamese nation resound through earth and sky

Better than holding a misused post

Bullying the people [?], carousing with glee

Money spent [?] pockets aplenty

While the people starve and drag on, uncaring

Overflowing joy hearing news of nuclear

Has stopped, Ninh Thuận, gradually delighted, so happy.

Why did Vietnamese and Indian meet

Why do Vietnamese and Indian live in one house

America lying at the far end of the sky

Yet Vietnamese and Indian left home to come here

Coming here, fate brings gathering

At school making friends, building life's dreams

Wedded and joined, the sea widening

The place of going to study became the place to live

Working, making a living, bearing children

One boy, one girl, complete having each other

Complete and content [?]

Medicine opens eyes, the girl later skilled in the trade

The months and years flow by so fast

Husband and wife reach the age, both retire

Two gentle sons like [?]

Parents cared for while [?] at home

Praying to Heaven, beseeching Buddha to bless the family

Peaceful, joyful, healthy—surely how blessed!

There's a poem the child sends to father

Thinking it over, I realize father is used to it

Rejoice [?] living kindly

Having three doctors like immortals helping the home

Praying for the children to be happy [?]

Wishing the children live a hundred years

Hoping for the family right on the year

Peaceful, joyful, healthy as the years advance

Making poetry, straining at the desk

If it goes wrong, so be it, arranged to ease sorrow

The toilet, so they say, sitting long

Straining again and again, hoping to see a poem

Poems full, poems foul, now bursting [?] poems

The first line sorrow [?] worry, dreaming, delighted

Strain out just eight more [?]

The poem becomes six-eight verse, standing sitting gleeful

When bored of watching, sitting idly

Take [?] water and wash, the shore of delusion is enough

Now stand up and go

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