Huong River
Translated by Andy Kale
Is it your voice that has been heard in the early light?
The welling sound kisses the falling water
Day chases day crawling in aspiration
Ancient mist rolls along beyond the skyI learn of reunion through anger
Who is waiting with shaking legs from the distance?
To collapse together in the midst of hardship
Thousands of fragrant leaves have torn our dream asunderSummer flows into the early autumn
Nostalgia hangs down in your wild hair
I sit drinking the drying fountain of life
And waiting for you although I have been drifting at largeYou, sending sound, have stopped your singing
I, delivering news, have lost my love somewhere
The water is asleep and the boats are still being paddled along: now fast, now slowly
It’s the season of ruins, the coming-to-an-end season of the North wind, the season of drynessThe warm smoke is floating up in rings
That first time still moves my heart
And it is still as gentle as the love of the reed and the cane
Is there shyness or warmth in the arms?Nguyen Duc Batngan
Original title: Song Huong
From: "Binh Minh Cam" (Shrouded Dawn)
A collection of poetry written in 1975
published in 1985.