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Ten Years

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Translated by Thanh Quang
 
 

Ten years I have lived away from my own land
Ten years I have become a stranger
Where can I find the swallow sunshine
When the time of love and hope is over?

Ten years I have lived away from my own land
Back home mother still sits next to the midnight lamp
Searching for her son, the lonely bird
Lost in the divided flying lanes.

Ten years I havn't seen my own land
Ten years I have lived in exile
Ten years I have missed mother
Ten years nobody has remembered.

In that life the dew is still green
Will it be able to cover the difficult time?
In the sky above the glittering stars
Are still crossing over the red dust mites.

Since that time of magic
Since that time of sadness
Now I wander like a lost soul
Crying for the ten years away from my own land.

For a thousand years the lonely bird has chokingly sung
Not to come home but waiting for its partner
Even though you and I, we have a promise
We are still looking hopelessly for each other.

Ten years, ten years of waiting
Ten years, ten years of missing
My life is a violent storm and
My soul forgets its origins.

Since that time of misery
Clenching my teeth I try to forget the promise
I am a lonely bird
Lost in the insane flying lane.
 
Nguyen Duc Batngan

Original tittle: Muoi Nam
From: "Binh Minh Cam" (Shrouded Dawn)

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