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THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467) VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 JUL 2005
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SONG NHI __________________________________ THE
UNFORTUNATES translated
by by Ho Thi Tam and Tony O'Donnell Awake, in this present incarnation, to a world of strife and consternation so different to Au Lac's* calm sightings, my refuge -
Vietnam's classic writings. While in my mind my mother's lullabies - I love the rhymes of those folk-songs so wise. Then peace, it is said, having been restored a nightmare
follows the fire and the sword. How can it be that from one river's source opposing
currents meet and whirl with force? At start of conflict between South and North what the offence or
crime gave war its birth? When from mankind humanity departs, and faced with violence from human hearts, my trembling soul like a wild bird became my life's
uncertain burden in my name. When gaping craters from the bombs and mines obstruct that love which two fond hearts entwines then in rice fields both desolate and wild I whisper, Love! to Motherland, from child. When river's currents flow as one again people who seek to ease each other's pain find hate and rancour do not soon abate and life with
sorrow starts to suffocate. When mountains slide, or river's banks have grown I am not carved from wood nor hewn from stone; my heart is hurt at times of others' blows it writhes and
spasms and their torture knows. When with at least a hundred things to say and words stuck in my throat cause dismay, for language is itself now full of strife, poetry
helps me give my thanks for life. My soul transforming into smoke and cloud; my heart beats like the sea with waves so loud; so long forsaken, this flock of wild birds in homeland's
sunset - can their cries be heard? (this
interpretation by Ho Thi Tam and Tony O'Donnell, - Mar 2002) Translator’s
note: *In
Vietnamese legend Au Lac are the beings (Lac Long Quan
- Dragon Lord of Lac - and Au Co - a Chinese immortal), one from the
mountains and the other from the sea, from whose marriage union the one
hundred eggs were laid which became the Vietnamese people. Much later, in
about 258 BC, Au Lac was also the name given to the state as it existed at
that time and which lasted for about 50 years. Song Nhi
here refers to an earlier golden age. The Writers Post &
literature-in-translation, founded
1999, based in the US. Editorial
note: Works
published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine (ISSN: 1540-1723). Copyright
© Ho
Thi Tam &
Tony O'Donnell
2005. Nothing in this magazine may be
downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/
translator/ artist/
The Writers Post/ and Wordbridge
magazine. Creating links to place The Writers Post or any of its pages within
other framesets or in other documents is copyright violation, and is not
permitted.
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