The Writers Post (ISSN: 1527-5467) the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. VOLUME 8 NUMBER 1 JAN 2006

HUY CAN __________________________________ REGRET translated by Vu Dinh Dinh Afternoon sun sets across the field … Amidst a quiet garden a young girl is folding the betel leaf. In the air, a lonely spider is deftly spinning. My dear! Go to sleep… I will serve you with this fan, Which is open wide as my heart. Hundreds of beautiful birds hover above To make you sleep a peaceful dream! Sleep well, my dear! Soft breezes rustle through rows of willow As tall trees cast their long, languishing shadows. Time and time again, have broken hearts mellowed your soul? Please place your head on my arm So I can hear the heavy drops of sorrow … HUY CAN Original version: Ngậm ngùi nắng chia nửa bãi; chiều rồi vườn hoang trinh nữ xếp đôi lá rầu sợi buồn con nhện giăng mau em ơi hãy ngủ...anh hầu quạt đây lòng anh mở cái quạt này trăm con chim mộng về bay đầu giường ngủ đi em mộng bình thường ru em sẵn tiếng thùy dương mấy bờ cây dài bóng xế ngẩn ngơ... hồn em đã chín mấy mùa thương đau ? tay anh em hãy tựa đầu cho anh nghe nặng trái sầu rụng rơi 1938 Huy Cận (Lửa Thiêng) Translator’s note: I wish to thank Miss Ngo Mai Kha, Xuan Dieu’s niece, who told me that I had misunderstood the word “trinh nu” in line two of the poem. She said “trinh nu” does not mean a virgin woman but refers to a plant when touched the leaves of which droop and close. After having looked up the word in dictionaries and talked to several elderly North Vietnamese, I found that in North Vietnam the plant is only known as “cay xau ho”, which literally means the plant that is shy. In Central and South Vietnam the plant is popularly known as “cay mac co” (shy plant) and in literary circle “trinh nu” (virgin woman). Actually, the full literary name of the plant is “trinh nu thao” (plant that is virgin). The common name of the plant in English is sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) from Central America. I believe Huy Can, who was born in Central Vietnam but spent most of his life in North Vietnam, had cleverly played on words with the name. Now knowing the double meaning of “trinh nu”, I decide to retain my original translation. In 2003, Mr. Peter Askim, a composer and assistant professor of music at the University of Hawaii, put Huy Can’s “Regret” to music and since the poem has been interpreted many times at Cornell University, in Pennsylvania, and in Hawaii by Miss Judith Kellock, an Emma-awards soprano singer nominee and assistant professor of music in New York City. The Writers Post the magazine of literature & literature-in-translation, founded 1999, based in the US. VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1 JAN 2006 Editorial note: Works published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine (ISSN: 1540-1723). Copyright © Vu Dinh Dinh & R&M 2006. 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. Return to Contents HOME