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December

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Translated by Andy Kale

 

Love has lost in what direction I never know
Or does it lie quiet in the cassava field or the mulberry plain
From privileged favor to the road along which there is no boarding house
You in the sky above are like a poor swallow

Since the time you took the wrong step
Narrow as it is, the creek is freezing on both sides
Do tomorrow and the day after tomorrow have a common desire?
A common heart which is sweet with the glamorous echo

You combine the winds to hide in the grapefruit fragrance
My former garden is still imprinted with the areca flowers
It is the same melody from the hoà and the nguyeät but why it sounds so plaintive
The first kiss dies because of both of us

In separation and reunion do you go in a certain direction?
Or sit tottering with you own shadow by the burning lamp
Luck and happiness are surrounded on all sides
You, like a bird, come back and sing out the nostalgia by the creek

The pasture feels sorry for the long miles and it becomes withered
You spread along rolling in the bitter cold wind
Day and night I have no one coming back to tell me I am remembered to
You bend over and sing in the falling rain

Nguyen Duc Batngan

Original title: Thang Chap
From: "Binh Minh Cam" (Shrouded Dawn)
A collection of poetry written in 1975
published in 1985.

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