Heritage Poem

By Brendan Duong

My origins all point to Vietnam,

It may not look like much, halfway across the world

But shows who I am, and that is what matters

My parents had no toys as such we have today

Instead, they had to make toys to entertain and play.

Medicine bottle dolls and aluminum cans tops,

Vietnam for them was at the top.

Temples and mountainsides, beauty and grace

Rivers and fields that seem to last on forever

They were happy playing peacefully

In the land they were born full of pride.

But war disrupted the grace found within,

North and South became two separate countries

Split into two like a broken puzzle.

Sailing the harsh seas my father did travel

Dangers awaited at every corner

Pirates and famine were close at hand

As the ship sailed on in search of safe land

Meanwhile my mother traveled by plane

Her family hoped their dreams wouldn’t end in vain.

Both ended up landing where they would be

One in America and the other in Canada, where their hopes could run free

Both started school in their new homeland

Learning the ropes and trying to fit in with the clan.

Growing up separate but in similar ways

They both end up meeting in the future someday

And so the story begins, a new chapter of life

I am born to my parents a life without strife.