THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467) the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. VOLUME 6 NUMBER 2 JUL 2004

TRAN TRUNG DAO _______________________________ MY LIFE FOR MY MOM’ S LAUGHTER Translated by THANH-THANH Picking up the handset I was stunned with surprise: Whose voice as light as falling leaves in cold skies? Isn't it ten years, ten years and over, dear mother, Just in silence to miss and long for one another? I left without any promises or pledges that day: The old wild horse from its forest-land went astray. Ten years for Mom's hair to turn mourning white, And mourning-like my soul also in such a plight. You've still been sitting there weaving your pain By an existence of slapping wind and beating rain. I've set off to set up from all directions a pyre In order to disperse the mist for life lighting a fire. Your voice was broken off, you choked up, I found; Mom's endearing words or mere in-reverie sound? You are too far, how could I reach out for you? And when could we meeting again look forward to ? Do not cry, my dear mother, and continue to await. All my grief I will hide in the rhymes I create. Of all my sorrow I will write reams and reams, And find your warmth my warmth in my dreams. TRAN TRUNG DAO · THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467), the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2 JULY 2004 Editorial note: All works published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine double issue 3 &4 Winter 2003 & Spring 2004. (ISSN: 1540-1723). Copyright © Tran Trung Dao 1999-2004. Nothing in this issue 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. Return to Contents HOME