The evening bruised black, the heavens flaring with angst
The body at expiration is sinking into darkness
With foaming waves hurriedly the ocean was covered
Looming indistinctly somewhere on earth
a dusky shadow of an island
floating to the West, to the North, then the East
Floating where ? Everywhere is covered with sea tangle
To the whereabouts where karmas descend and corpses sink
Oh, soul! The earth moves farther and farther away
Depart and take the fathomless ocean grave as home
The soul is returning to the state of multiple lives
Death is reincarnation from karma uncompleted
It’s over, nothing left but a tenebrous abode
The Ho horse, the Viet bird have transfigured into evanescencea
The soul is still hovering over the Eastern Sea
mesmerizingly wafting offshore
pounded on by torrential rain
April bleeds, discoloring the misty skies
The body is descending onto the ruins of the former land
adorned with the castles, fortresses of the golden times
and sophisticated, novel literary works; and sacred altars
in the glories of the nation building period
Many eyes open, zillions of sorrowful hairs stand on end
So many hands handcuffed, so many breasts impaled yesterday
Amidst the green moss appears bleary Motherland
They glide over the territorial waters to return under the sky of the country of old
Moving towards a putrid direction
for battleground positioning
The souls of the remaining defeated army were scuffling at the Gate of the Ocean Grave.
Night falls, time stops, destiny ends
Burdened with a besmirched existenceb, they made their way across Lạc Hà1
Their souls fading into the multiple worldsc after death
faltering back to their homeland every night.
Where to in the dark night
Amidst the quivering incense sticks
Those who still have a shadow
Those who have lost their appearance.
Those who entered this ephemerous life
and transformed into drifters to join the heavenly host
Whenever demons no longer reside offshore
Let’s go to the mainland and return to our country of yore.
Together we restore our life’s root:
Splitting bamboos, cutting wood, digging ditches, and building our community house.
The Laureate back to his station
The General to the frontier, the student to his study
Từ Thức back to his fairies
The scholars back to teaching, the literati to literary critique
The mulberry farms to the silkworms
The green rice fields to the industrious peasant
The magistrate’s horse back to the buffalo boy
The cloister to God, the pagoda to the bonze
The areca spathe fan I give back to thee
The lovely girls to the pretty boys.
Việt Nam is reinstating its nation
Five times kings restored Motherland
The blue devils disappear, starts the mourning dove call
Dawn listens to and Dusk knows about
the cold bird moving South, our native land
Not a single word nor laughter, steps are staken to return
to the magic crossbow of the yesteryears
the sharp sword from the lake
Rushing with the fury of a swollen river
Lạc Long welcomes Âu Cơ back to the boat
Children rising from the sea and those
Descending from the mountains to meet one another.
Five thousand years start again
Which bird carries stones, who patches the sky2
We are leaving the foreign soil
Like birds shunning snow to return to their homeland.
Translated by Nguyễn văn Thái
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NOTES BY AUTHOR
1Lạc Hà or Nại Hà is a bridge that leads to the Netherworld. ““Bia đề rằng Nại Hà Kiều, Kẻ nào có phước quỉ đều dắt qua.” [inscriptions on the stele say whoever lucky enough to cross Nại Kiều Bridge will be lead by the demons] By Nguyễn Đình Chiểu in Dương Từ Hà Mậu.
2The previous karma of the Tinh Vệ Bird was a princess, daughter of King Viêm Đế, who happened to drown while on a promenade by the sea. She was angry and reincarnated in a bird carying stones to fill up the sea so nobody would drown again. Lady Nữ Oa, sister of King Phục Hy, saw empty spaces in the firmament and thought the celestial dome was perforated and decided to carry five-colored stones to patch the sphere. Excuses for not providing notes on myths about Từ Thức, Bờm and the areca spathe fan, Ông Nghè, Sĩ phu (remarks by viên Linh)
NOTES BY TRANSLATOR
a“Ngựa Hồ, chim Việt biến hình mà đi” [The Ho horse, the Viet bird have transformed into evanescence] has its origin in the verse from “Cổ thi thập cửu thủ” (Nineteen famous ancient poems): “Hồ mã tê Bắc phong, Việt điểu sào Nam chi” [胡馬依北風, 越鳥巢南枝: The Ho horse neighs at the Northern wind, the Viet bird nests in the South], implying lovers are missing each other. In Viên Linh’s verse, “Ngựa Hồ, chim Việt biến hình mà đi” [The Ho horse, the Viet bird have transformed into evanescence] means at death, love no longer exists; only impermanence.
b “ô y” (translated as burdened with a besmirched existence). In Buddhist conceptualization, “ô y” means “unpure conditions of existence”. “Ô”=dirty, besmirched; “y”= basic foundation of life. It is unlikely that the author refers to the anecdote of the “ô y” area in Jiang Ning (Nanjing today) where rich people of reputation all wore black clothes.