Webinar shares poems and memories of President Ho Chi Minh

New York (VNA) - Stories about President Ho Chi Minh’s wise mind and vision and his simple lifestyle and humanity were shared at a webinar held by the permanent mission of Vietnam to the United Nations with renowned poet Tran Dang Khoa on the occasion of the late leader’s 131st birthday on May 19.

Entitled “Tho, hoi uc ve Nguoi - Mot nhan cach lon” (Poems and memories about President Ho Chi Minh - A great figure), the webinar featured Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, and officials from Vietnamese embassies and representative offices worldwide.

Six-three-year-old Khoa has spent years studying and writing about President Ho Chi Minh. One of his first poems about the Vietnamese leader - “Anh Bac” (a Photo of Uncle Ho) - was written when he was eight years old and in Grade 2. The pure and simple poem of a child was published in newspapers and won the hearts of millions of readers around the country.

He said he is particularly impressed by how the President used talented people. He made Vo Nguyen Giap, who then was a history teacher and had never received formal military training, an army general.

American journalist Lady Borton once asked President Ho Chi Minh why he promoted Giap, and he replied simply: “We have been fighting guerrilla style, and so are our appointments. Giap has defeated all of the French Generals so he must be a General.”

President Ho Chi Minh was a major inspiration for writers and music composers, Khoa said, adding that most works about him are touching and meaningful. The poet who wrote the most poems about President Ho Chi Minh was the late To Huu, while the most beautiful works included those by late poets Viet Phuong from Hanoi and Felix Pita Rodriguez from Cuba.

Ambassador Quy said that for people of his generation, born in the 1960s, poems about Uncle Ho, especially those from Tran Dang Khoa, are the most beautiful and unforgettable, regardless of time./.