---

With the Roadside Dust

---

Translated by Andy Kale

 

When I come back the words are still there
And still there are the poems of the bluest color of longing.
My eyes are dazed looking in that direction
There is still a certain warm scent left on your lips

Does it make you sad now, my love?
I will wait though it may take a hundred years to wait
Do we hurt each other, my love
I, spoiled, am still wandering in a far-away land

In your tiredness have you ever seen
The cloud I have turned into the sunlight at noon
This love has gone astray on that day
Although the other still has the former thought

Since the time the sunlight sank deep in the grave
The flower … fragrance has been no end
I have gradually been as purple as the bloody path
And placid though my heart is a tragedy.

Nguyen Duc Batngan

Original title: Cung Chut Bui Ben Duong
From: "Binh Minh Cam" (Shrouded Dawn)
A collection of poetry written in 1975
published in 1985.

---