WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER / PHẠM THẾ MỸ / Don Luce introduced ...

We promise one another /  poems from an Asian war
DON LUCE   introduced ...


                                                      A U C T I O N  
                                                                    by
                                                 P h ạ m   T h ế   M ỹ  *

   Fifty piasters , who will buy from me ?
   Five million piasters , who will buy from me  ?
   Five million piasters , a million you for sale  .
   Fifty piasters , who will buy this bright young student ?
   A pair of legs still  strong ,
   Two good arms.
   Who  will buy from me?  Who will buy from me ?
   Five million piasters , ten thousand students ,
   I need money ,
   I need whiskey ,
   Who will  buy from me ? Who will buy from me ?

  For sale , all my land ,
  For sale , all my love ,
  For sale , all my friends ,
  For sale , my kind wife ,'
  For an extra million ,
  I' ll sell myself ,
  Who will buy from me ?  Who will buy from me ?
  For an extra million , I 'll sell all of me ;
  I need to buy a patriot ,
 
  Anything for sale ? I 'll buy everything ,
  Fifty thousand for a pimp ,
  Five million for a mandarin
  With  a big salary
  Who gained power step by step ;
  Anything for sale ? I 'll buy anything .

 I need dirty hands ,
 And playboys ,
 Sweet smelling as garden worms
 Wandering up and down the streets ,
 I ' ll buy anything , I  'll buy everything ;
 Here is a million , I 'll buy a monk
 For a million ;
 I ' ll buy a prison
 I 'll build a prison
 For an extra million ,
 Don't forget me ,
 Anything for sale ?  I 'll buy anything ,
Anything for sale ? I 'll buy everything ,
 An extra million , don' t forget me ,
 An extra million , don't forget me
   []

PHẠM THẾ MỸ .

---
*  a South Vietnamese composer .

( from   WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER - poem from an Asian war.
    DON LUCE, JOHN SCHAFER  and  JACQUELYN CHAGNON selected, 
    translated, introduced  -  Published by The Indochina Mobile Education
    Project , Wsahington, D.C. 1971 - p. 31-32  )