THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467) the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. PREMIER ISSUE VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1 JUL 1999

NGUYEN THI THANH BINH ________________ FLEE, DARLING, INTO MY DREAM Translated by NGUYEN NGOC BICH Where is it, darling, my oxygen?           How can I breathe now           The dusk, too, wept with eyes still blood shot           To the point that lips grew gradually purple           Yet that moon will never come back           Not even a faint trace           Or even a leaf-shaped dreary splotch of darkness           How can that be? How?           Memories, memories that refuse to retire into dreams!           Of course, here I am still, and still breathing           Still walk, stand, talk, laugh, still gesturing and still                     remembering           Problem is           I am lost at the razor's edge between Happiness and                     Suffering           Which is why my memory isn't quite straight, shifting                     as it does like an illusion           And, darling           What illusion doesn't fly away --like a lover who                     has grown wings?           Our song, then, has flown away           Broken also are the frets of that ancient instrument           Flown, too, those impatient rains of kisses           The soothing wounds no longer awake in me           And the sea no longer waits for an inebriated step on                     the beach           And the waves are done with the doings of sandcrabs                     every day           And... and so what remains           Leaves me the richest person in the world as far as                     bitterness is concerned           And you a king shorn of palaces and drunken parties           Shorn, too, of me as your "beloved" consort           Who told you that the heavens contained in my eyes                     are sadder than the July rains           Who told you that the mirror of my soul will splinter                     the most recalcitrant tears           Who told you that Love is a reality?           Who told you that long-legged women like to swing           That they are ready to rock-and-roll from one                     encounter to another split up           Why didn't you keep the winds bound as in a case?           O empty clam shells, childhood summers and ashes...           Had I been able to read the bad omens           Had I not put all my stakes on flames           Flames that fell victim to a melancholic           Splendor           That froze my poems           Then today           I would have a hundred things to share with you and                     not just a dream           Indeed, we have not been wholly unfortunate           For our yearnings then were still so glorious!           What aspiration, what yearning is without danger           Of explosion?           Flee, darling, into my dream!           Please keep my dream a sweet one           Let's pull up the sheet to keep that dream real warm           Who knows           Memories might feel bone-chilling           For they are not warmed by our dream...  Translated by NGUYEN NGOC BICH (This English translation version has been published in Songvan magazine [ISSN 1089-8123, discontinued in 2000], issue 10, Sept 1997, which is under the same ownership and editorship of The Writers Post’s publisher and editor N. Saomai / Nguyen Sao Mai). · THE WRITERS POST (ISSN: 1527-5467), the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation. Copyright © 1999 The Writers Post. Nothing in this website may be downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/ translator/ artist/ and The Writers Post. 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. The Writers Post Jul. 1999 Return to Contents HOME