'Flying' amidst poetic horizons

Amidst the constant changes of modern life, poetry continues to forge its own paths, carrying the human soul beyond geographical and cultural boundaries.

Báo Thái Nguyên•20/04/2026

This collection of poems in the Foreign Literature section brings together voices from Greece, India, Italy, Romania, Hungary, the United States, and Russia – each poet carrying a slice of the world , a different way of feeling and thinking, but all hướng towards universal values: love, being, freedom, and the desire to live.

From fiery flights of passion and reflections on loneliness to the yearning for liberation and confrontation with truth, these poems are like doors opening to many poetic horizons, where people recognize themselves in the myriad faces of humanity.

Lakovos Theras Karamolegkos (Greece)

Fly

I flew into the burning fire.

To uncover the secret name of the child,

Hidden faces, captivating games,

My love, my destiny, and my aspirations.

I fly to the stars:

You are Venus, and I am Mars beside you…

I want to say that I love you very much.

Living without you is like dying.

Not

These are not flowery words,

But it was precisely those gentle strokes of the sword that...

Genuine souls always give

Genuine comfort for the suffering…

These are not flowery verses,

But they are lonely people who yearn for something.

Sharing, silent empathy

Like sharing a meal from the heart…

She is a muse who knows how to blend in with life.

It is the roof, the sun, and the truth for mankind.

Planet Earth

The planet Earth is a rose.

Amidst countless sharp thorns.

But it's still a garden.

Please preserve the flower.

And the stars, you know.

Khanh Phuong

(Translated from the English version)

Monica Sharma (India)

I am a human being, I am an Indian woman.

I am Shraddha, I am Ida.

I am Sushama, I am Indira.

In one lifetime,

I have lived countless lives, thousands upon thousands of lifetimes.

I drink the sweet nectar of life.

as a daughter, as a wife,

Sometimes she's a mother, sometimes she's a brilliant leader and manager.

She was a village girl in the fields, in the barns.

I have to live life to the fullest in every aspect.

Who am I, who used to be, who used to be my mother?

All of those things, and also those who will be my students, my daughter,

I also need to understand and empathize.

Yes, I am human – every color, every aspect of life is beautiful to me.

I must fulfill my vow to fly ever higher.

I must reach every corner of the wide-open sky.

I am Maithili, the female captain of the Indian cricket team.

I am Kalpana Chawla, who has reached the heavens.

I am a diver, venturing into the depths of the ocean.

I am a dancer, I am a yoga practitioner, I am the boundless expanse.

I am an Indian woman…

Hoang Dieu Huan

(Translated from the English version)

Laura Garavaglia (Italy)

Summer

The smell of tar at the end of the pier.

bars clinging to barges

Summer bubbles shimmer with pearlescent sheen.

rising in the heat

My heart doesn't even know which way to drift.

Above all, the day bursts with light.

Only the faded silver pillow remained.

There were still pieces of dried seaweed on the rocks.

And the eyes of Saint Lucia in the darkness,

And on my neck, there was a bleeding jellyfish burn.

Kieu Mai

(Translated from English)

Andrea H. Hedeș (Romania)

Hanoi at night

If the stars

You have the right to choose.

Perhaps they won't be stars.

It's not a gem either.

Not a dragon

Not the king of the jungle

Not a king

Do not establish a kingdom.

If the stars

The right to choose

It will swoop down here.

In this flower

I don't know the name of the flower.

But this beauty

It will follow me forever.

Until late autumn

Autumn...

Kieu Mai

(Translated from English)

Sándor Halmosi (Hungary)

Justie

If she had given in, she would have lost herself there.

If you give in, your spine will be crushed by rocks.

You sit alone on the lovers' bench.

Sand and gravel are piled up around the perimeter.

The workers, even with masks on, still look handsome.

You know, only hard work and love can save you.

You know, only working with love can save her.

Those who are prone to worrying are blessed with the added perseverance to keep worrying.

For those with busy schedules, a hundred years is just a blink of an eye, and a hundred periods of isolation fly by like an hour.

She will arrive at dawn.

She would gently tap on the window, softly place a sprig of ginger brought from afar on the windowsill. The scent of lemongrass wafted from her lustrous hair, and her laughter made the water flow freely.

Phan Anh Son

(Translated from the original Hungarian text)

Adrian Sangeorzan (USA)

Isolation

On the way to the port of Genoa,

The ship was docked for forty days.

Then they set sail with a final farewell.

Forty days of quarantine and isolation.

That's how dictionaries work.

We are like a linguistic epidemic.

How long will the incubation period last?

Let the longing for sailors' wives wither away.