Those days in April 1975, nearly the whole nation was closely following the lightening speed of the armies advancing for liberation of the South. And o­n April 30^th, the liberation flag was flying o­n top of the Doc Lap (Independence) Palace and the stirring song “As if Uncle Ho was here o­n the Victory Day” o­n the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) radio echoed the people’s utmost happiness o­n these unforgettable days.

Not long after Victory Day o­n April 30 did I receive numerous letters of congratulations from my international friends. Maia Kasen sent me a letter from a Ukrainian city o­n the bank of the Dnepro. It was sent with a poem that she wrote after the news of the Sai Gon liberation. Later the poem was published in the Ukraine Literature newspaper o­n May 13^th 1975.

Who is Maia Kasen?

Maia was a disabled Soviet citizen who at the time was in her 30s and had been wheelchair-bound for 20 years. Living with her mother in the small city of Dnepropetropxco, she was determined to overcome her disability. A university graduate of the English language; she refused to live o­n the public policy but worked at home as an English tutor for school and university students.

She was also interested in literature and always wrote about her thoughts and sentiments while following world news through the radio and newspapers. She was also a fan of the Voice of Vietnam’s English channel.

Late 1964, at the office of the Van hoc (Literature) Publishing House, I received from the VOV a Russian-language epic about our war hero Nguyen Van Troi. The author was Maia Kasen. The epic was 386 verses long, flowing out of a pupil notebook. I was deeply moved by the epic and translated it immediately into Vietnamese. It first came out o­n Van Nghe (Letters and Arts) newspaper o­n January 8^th 1965, o­ne year after Nguyen Van Troi’s death. Latter it was selected for many poetry collections by the Literature, Youth and Women Publishing Houses. Since then we became pen-friends but never met in person.

After the Nguyen Van Troi epic, Maia Kasen became a prominent author in the Ukraine and Soviet Union. Her works include poetry and support speeches about Vietnam and translations of Vietnamese literature. At the beginning her translations were based o­n English versions, then she decided to learn Vietnamese in order to be able to work directly off the original. It took her o­nly o­ne year of self-study before she could exchange letters in Vietnamese.

Maia Kasen was admitted to the Ukraine Association of Writers when the Paris Agreement o­n Vietnam was signed in 1973. She is the author of several collections of Vietnamese modern poetry, such as the “Fighting Vietnam”, “Voice from Inner side of Fire”, and translator of many Vietnamese literature works into the Ukraine language, including the “Hon dat” (Hon dat Island) by Anh Duc, “Dat rung phuong nam” (Forests of the South) by Doan Gioi, short stories by Nam Cao, and poetry by Ho Chi Minh and To Huu.

With the Vietnam topic, Maia Kasen’s literature career was growing quickly over 2 decades. She was dreaming of visiting Vietnam o­ne day but her severe disease which crippled her for almost all her life, denied her of that dream and many other plans. She unfortunately passed away in the mid 1980’s.

Celebrating our Final Victory and Liberation of the South this year, I am recalling the memories about this admirable woman and her verses of the historical days 31 years ago.

Spring in Sai Gon

Shackles all gone! Barbarians dispersed

Centuries of disgrace – Adieu!

Behold flags of gold star in the street

Hue, Sai Gon, Da Nang, further South

Oh Justice - You have won at last

Living through Son My Mascacre

Enduring those cells and tiger cages

Under B-52 You grown up stronger

With glory now You are standing straight

Open arms for unfamiliar jobs get done

Shining sprining in Sai Gon and Southern half