Đinh Trường Chinh | I see people not by the colour of their skin (45)

A peom in Vietnamese by Đinh Trường Chinh, translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
I see people not by the colour of their skin

I see people not by the colour of their eyes

I see people not by their vernacular

I see people not by their sex

I see people not by their hair

their lips

their teeth

their nose.

–

I see people by their heartbeat

I see people by the expression in their eyes

their sympathy

their breath

I see people 

with the same red blood as mine

the blood dripping down this life.

–

I see people in the dark of night

I see people in the light

I see people in ruin

I see people in hope

I see myself in people

I see in people

I.

—

June 2022

Đinh Trường Chinh born 1970 in Tan Dinh, Saigon, Vietnam. The American-Vietnamese poet and artist, computer engineer currently lives and work in Virginia, U.S.A.
—
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the poet, born 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. A practicing pharmacist, who currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.