A
LOVE POEM FOR HUÉ
Back
to Hué! The green leaves on the
dreamy way
suddenly
seemed to set the sun in my soul to sway;
since
that early in the morning a certain bird
has
made various vague tunes in my heart heard.
You
came home. Steps resound in the
small alley,
light
smoke skim along in the Imperial Citadel pally.
Though
stony, I become so surprisingly upset
as
the once I wondered if I had lost my self yet.
The
River of Perfumes gets nostalgic in fall;
Its
fog and flowers make your sad air enthrall;
that
stream of youth’s hair is source of eternal love;
you
still are always a kind of naive dreamlike dove.
Over
the eyes of that Hué morose ancient shrine
I,
the nomad, to brush with a kiss did once incline;
the
Sacred Lady’s dodder caught my affection to fill
like
a light evening breeze on the Huong Tra Hill.
You
have got home, and I aged with so long to miss,
Oh
Royal Capital, coaches and horses of old bliss!
I
feel I reel with send-off spirits on the parting plate:
Is
this the only bitter remainder of my thus bitter fate?
Translation by THANH-THANH