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Best Poems From
YEN CRESS
(3/9/43)
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1.
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Salute to an American Soldier
I salute you, Soldier!
You are doing a job I cannot do
To protect
The values I treasure
And the beautiful land
I call Home.
There are things worth fighting for-
Important things
Like freedom
And justice
And the right to live
In safety
In the way one chooses
In the place one chooses.
There are things worse than war-
Terrible things
Like oppression
And unbridled power
And cruelty
Against the innocent
Against the weak
Against anyone.
So fight, Soldier.
Fight with courage
And honor
And the knowledge that it is right.
You do what has to be done.
You bring new glory
To Old Glory.
I am proud of you.
I pray for you.
I cheer you on.
I stand behind you
With my whole heart.
I salute you, Soldier.
Yen Cress
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2.
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Debutante in Green (Rondeau Redouble)
The young bamboo made her debut:
She sang to me a serenade.
She wore a crown of silver dew
And ao dai sewn of silken jade.
My meetings with the gentle maid
Were secret, like a rendevous,
Until that day, when in the glade,
The young bamboo made her debut.
The breeze was warm; the sky was blue;
The butterflies were on parade;
While 'round her head they danced and flew,
She sang to me a serenade.
The lilies shamelessly displayed
Their gowns of every brilliant hue.
My love stood proudly unafraid:
She wore a crown of silver dew.
Shy little shoots gazed up. They knew
Who most divinely was arrayed-
The young Vietnamese bamboo
In ao dai made of silken jade.
To her, polite respects they paid.
She was the slender maiden who
Deserved their every accolade
The glorious day they came to view
The young bamboo.
Yen Cress
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3.
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Hermit Crab's Moving Day
'Way out on the sand dunes or under a bush
Lives a critter so cute, and so clever!
He wears a smart shell on his cute little tush,
And his habits are quite an endeavor.
One evening you might see him looking for lunch.
Hermie eats off the land, like a scout.
He is fond of the beach-growing grass he can munch-
He's delighted to find a small sprout.
As he grows, Hermie knows he must find a new shell
That is bigger and better-more roomy.
If he's lucky, he finds one, and chuckles, 'Well, well!
I think this pretty murex will do me! '
So he climbs out the doorway without looking back
And he takes not a shirt nor a spoon.
No suitcase, no bag, and no trunk does he pack
When he moves by the light of the moon.
He walks backward to enter his spacious new place,
Then he digs a new basement below.
Can you see the big grin on his funny crab face?
He'll be safe when the sea breezes blow!
Yen Cress
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4.
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Good Clean Fun
She scrubs the floor on hands and knees
Nor thinks to take a moment's ease.
She dusts and waxes varnished wood
And wipes the mirrors as she should.
She polishes the silverware
And shines the glasses with a flair.
She tidies up each cluttered room:
No scraps escape her corn-straw broom.
She feeds the teak with Danish oil
And ferrets out each speck of soil.
Her chores are done; her home's like new,
And just the laundry's left to do.
But when she washes all her clothes,
No smelly socks assail her nose.
No stained and spotted pants or skirts,
No grimy blouses or tee shirts
Will swish among the foamy suds
With pretty, dainty party duds.
Her jobs are dirty, but she's shrewd-
She does her housework in the nude!
Yen Cress
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