|
THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467) VOLUME 12 NUMBER 1 JAN 2010 |
DU TU LE __________________________________________ a poem by DU TU LE translated
by Vu Dinh Dinh When I die, take me to the sea When I die, take me to
the sea Living in exile, I don’t
even own a burial site Buried in foreign soil,
my body unlikely would decompose My soul, unliberated, how
would it find its way home? When I die, take me to
the sea Undercurrents will tow my
body away Far away, on the other
shore lies my beloved homeland With lofty bamboo trees
staying ever green. When I die, take me to
the sea And remember, do not
close my eyes yet So that I can catch a
last glimpse of my homeland As my body may somehow
reach its lovely shore. When I die, take me to
the sea So that I can meet my
children And watch their tears
streaming down From their eyes sadder
than darkness. When I die, take me to
the sea On the way, be sure to
sing the national anthem. Alas! For a long time
nobody has been singing it. (It too now resembles a
wandering soul.) When I die, there will be
no more sadness; Life in exile effectively
separates you from your own soul. ‰ The Writers Post &
literature-in-translation, founded 1999,
based in the US. Copyright © Vu Dinh Dinh & The Writers Post 2009. Copyright for the original © Du Tu Le. Nothing in this magazine may be downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/ translator/ artist/ The Writers Post/ and Wordbridge magazine. Creating links to place The Writers Post or any of its pages within other framesets or in other documents is copyright violation, and is not permitted. |
|