This seemingly cheerful photo was taken of my grandparents on the first day of Tết (Lunar New Year celebration), 1968. If you have a basic knowledge of your US-Vietnam War history, then you understand why their smiles deepen the chilling scene frozen in time. 

You know that the only reason they could have smiled like that was because they were completely oblivious to what would happen shortly moments afterwards. You subconsciously wish the that the peaceful silence recorded in this photograph could somehow extend indefinitely longer.

Because just a few hours after this photo was taken, what the world now knows (and shudders in rumination) as “The Tet Offensive” would begin. And 72 hours later, gruesome images of the reality of a war Americans thought was on a victorious trajectory would splatter across TV screens back home. Plummeting public support for the decade-long conflict ensued. This was a pivotal turning point that many historians credit as the beginning of the end of the war.

I don’t want to use this space to rehash the details of what you can easily find from the countless articles, books, and documentaries written about this horrific event that we all would rather forget. A quick online search engine can help you with everything you need to know.

What I DO want to share today is one of the few gems that were borne out of the unspeakable tragedy: a hauntingly beautiful song written by the immortal Vietnamese songwriter Trịnh Công Sơn with an equally haunting name: “Song for the Human Corpses.” (Bài Ca Dành Cho Những Xác Người). ***Clumsy translation tweaked by me.

The lyrics start out as a somber and mournful recount of the author’s point-of-view as he desperately searched through the aftermath for his (presumably deceased) sibling:

🎵Xác người nằm trôi sông,

Corpses float on the river,

Phơi trên ruộng đồng

Strewn across rice fields,

Trên nóc nhà thành phố

On top of city roofs

Trên những đường quanh co

Along the tortuous roads

Xác người nằm bơ vơ

Corpses lie forsaken 

Dưới mái hiên chùa

Under pagoda eaves

Trong giáo đường thành phố

Inside city churches

Trên thềm nhà hoang vu

On abandoned porches

Xác người nằm quanh đây

Corpses lie hereabouts 

Trong mưa lạnh này

In the cold rain

Bên xác người già yếu

Near corpses of the elderly and weak

Có xác còn thơ ngây

Lie corpses of the young and innocent

Xác nào là em tôi

Which corpse is my younger sister

Dưới hố hầm này

In this ditch

Trong những vùng lửa cháy

In war zones ablazed

Bên những vồng ngô khoai

Near fields of maize and potatoes🎵

But THEN, the chorus shifts into a hopeful and dignified tone, promising that this too shall pass, and we will rebuild from the ashes and heal together as the resilient people we are:

🎵Mùa xuân ơi, xác nuôi thơm cho đất ruộng cầy

Oh Spring, corpses fertilize your plowed fields,

Việt Nam ơi, xác thêm hơi cho đất ngày mai

Oh Vietnam, corpses nourish your land for tomorrow.

Ðường đi tới, dù chông gai

Our roads ahead, though thorny

Vì quanh đây đã có người

They are strengthened by corpses of the fallen🎵

Trịnh Công Sơn passed away in 2001, just as Vietnam was on the cusp of explosive economics growth that built the renown tourist darling that the country is known today, with her people’s cultural footprints rapidly spreading on the global stage. I wish that Trịnh Công Sơn had lived long enough to witness his optimistic prophecies fulfilled.

But every year since 1968, his immortal lyrics have lived on in the hearts and on the lips of the Vietnamese people, at home and abroad, no matter which side of the war we were on, to unite and remind us that: no matter what transpires, this too shall pass, and we will prevail.