Poems of Tran Thi Lan Anh (Germany)

Smoke, Fire, and Recurring Cycles

Trần Thị Lan Anh

Aschaffenburg, Germany

Statements echo from a cold high podium

Middle Eastern winds carry heavy warnings

People speak of armies

Of footsteps soon to land on foreign ground

In the night over Tehran

Explosions tear the silent sky apart

No one has time to ask

What the target is

Only remains

Flames and nameless fear

Ships carrying thousands of lives

Silently advance into heated waters

Like a chessboard already set

Waiting only for a wrong move

A call for unity rises

In what is called the most critical of days

A “great war”

No one truly wishes to name

Yet everyone knows

It has already begun

I think of an older war

Where the fields of Vietnam

Once trembled under bombs and fire

Where young soldiers

Never had the chance to understand why they were there

History feels like a circle

Different names

Different maps

But the pain remains familiar

One side issues warnings

The other delivers responses

Between them stand human lives

Who did not choose this war

But must live with it

Smoke still drifts

Across Tehran

Across memories

Across pages of history that never truly close

And somewhere

In the faintest whisper of the wind

Lingers the same old question repeated

Whether humanity has learned anything at all

After all the wars that have passed…

© Trần Thị Lan Anh. 

Peace Between Cracks of the World

Trần Thị Lan Anh

Morning news still carries the scent of smoke,

Names of distant lands collide through warnings and ultimatums,

The Middle East and Europe—two edges of a restless map,

Tremble beneath the breath of a world uneasy and wide.

Talk of negotiations drifts through the air,

Yet behind each handshake lies a distance like open frontiers,

One holds a strait as leverage in silence,

Another stands firm, guarding its ground like identity itself.

Oil rises with the rhythm of tension,

Markets echo human fear in quiet numbers,

Figures are no longer mere figures—

They sweat like lives uncertain of tomorrow.

Somewhere, Ukraine still feels the cold wind of conflict,

Cities once familiar now wear fresh wounds of war,

Somewhere, the Middle East tightens like a drawn string

Between dialogue and the risk of a single misstep.

And we—

Small voices in a vast unfolding age—

Receive the news each day like distant bells,

Unsure when their echoes might turn into calm.

Peace is not a shouted declaration,

Nor found in victory or domination;

Peace is a mother who sleeps without fear,

A child who dreams without the sound of explosions.

Peace is a handshake without hesitation,

Words that can stand where weapons once prevailed,

Nations realizing that no one truly wins

In a world left fractured and undone.

Let one day arrive

When straits no longer signify tension,

When cities no longer tremble at breaking news,

And humanity—

Lives simply as humanity,

Not as pieces of a strategic design.

If peace had a form,

Perhaps it would be a morning without urgent headlines,

A world where the most essential question is not power,

But whether we have the courage to pause.

And then we may understand:

Peace was never far away—

Only that humanity, for too long,

Forgot to walk together

In the same direction.

© Tran Thi Lan Anh

Spring Rebirth

Tran Thi Lan Anh

Who gently holds the spring?

The earth opens.

Red tulip shoots push through —

Hearts thought dead —

Come alive.

Golden daffodils blaze

Stretching through the frozen soil.

Love once thought lost —

Now awakens, softly,

Like seedlings breaking through the mud.

Early crocus buds —

Hands reach for each other through silver mist.

A kiss not yet given —

Now trembles, gentle on the skin.

This spring, the earth and sky hold their breath —

Day and night in balance,

Only we remain —

Green life, love reborn.

Drink the first drop of morning dew —

Breathe in all life,

Welcome the new season.

© Tran Thi Lan Anh

The Flame of Humanity

Tran Thi Lan Anh

Humanity is a flame that never fades,

Illuminating paths for souls that wander in the dark.

It is the hand that lifts the fallen back to their feet,

A gentle voice that soothes the fires of anger.

Humanity is a smile amid enduring pain,

A tear we shed for sorrow that is not our own.

It is the strength to forgive and to let go,

A heart that beats in rhythm with another’s heart.

Humanity is the place where we rediscover ourselves,

A guiding light that leads us through life’s storms.

© Tran Thi Lan Anh

A Home I Long For

Tran Thi Lan Anh

Family happiness may seem so far, so high,

yet it is simple—so simple we often pass it by.

It is where life begins, where we return,

the final place where love continues to burn.

A quiet refuge—steady, warm, and true,

where joy and hardship are shared by two.

Where we grow, we learn, we build as one,

and walk together toward dreams not yet done.

A place of care, of tender embrace,

of respect and love we cannot replace.

Where I may cry and you understand,

where you speak your heart and I hold your hand.

Where I rest my head upon your arm

through restless nights and storms that harm.

Where we wake each morning side by side,

and see each other with nothing to hide.

Where we raise our children with gentle care,

watching them grow, step by step, aware.

Where they find their path, their voice, their way,

while we stand beside them every day.

Where we share small stories at day’s end,

and laughter fills the home we tend.

Where pride and joy light up their eyes,

in every effort, in every prize.

Where simple meals bring hearts close near,

for love is served at the table here.

For in those moments, warm and true,

the shortest path to the heart comes through.

Oh, how I long for such a life—

a home, a love… with you, my life.

© Lan Anh. All rights reserved

SEASON OF LOVE

Tran Thi Lan Anh

Thin mist covers the streets,

The biting wind brushes past old rooftops,

We huddle close together,

Fingers entwined,

Breath mingling with breath,

Holding onto the warmth of winter.

Steps press into compacted snow,

Soft laughter echoes among bare branches,

Golden light from the windows

Dances gently across the frozen water.

We are in no hurry to welcome spring,

Wanting winter to linger a little longer,

Embracing each other in the quiet streets,

Feeling our hearts beat together,

Warmer than the first sunlight of spring.

The last days of winter remain cold,

But our hearts are full of warmth,

Stories told by candlelight,

Smiles exchanged in the frosty night,

We move slowly,

Inhaling every private moment,

Wanting to hold back time

So this winter of love may last.

I remain

With a radiant heart,

Tempered

Through the cold,

Yet overflowing with love.

Copyright: © Tran Thi Lan Anh

BIOGRAPHY:

Tran Thi Lan Anh was born and raised in Vietnam and has spent over 30 years studying, working, and living in Germany. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics, specializing in Accounting, Finance, Taxation, and International Economic Relations. Her academic background has shaped a strong analytical mindset, a systematic approach, and a deep understanding of global economic processes.

For more than 20 years, she has worked professionally in the fields of finance, accounting, and taxation. She is the co-founder and managing director of OptiY GmbH in Estenfeld, Würzburg (Germany), a software company that develops products for the automotive industry and also provides software free of charge to several universities in Germany to support teaching activities.

In addition, she runs her own financial and tax office in Aschaffenburg (Germany), primarily serving small Vietnamese businesses.

Alongside her professional career, she bridges scientific thinking with literary creativity and is currently active as a contemporary poet. Living in a multicultural environment in Germany has nurtured her multi-layered artistic expression.

Her poetic style is characterized by delicate emotional expression and deep introspective exploration of the human inner world. For her, poetry is an inner voice reflecting states of mind, silence, longing, and the journey of self-discovery.

Her work explores themes such as the fragility of human emotions, inner strength and resilience, authentic expression of inner experiences, identity and self-discovery, and the contrast between silence and expression.

Living in Germany has broadened her perspective, allowing her to combine Eastern sensitivity with Western 

literary thinking. This fusion gives her poetry a universal resonance that can reach readers across diverse cultures.

She continues to develop her literary voice as a modern poet, focusing on profound, authentic, and reflective expressions of the human inner world.