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THƠ TÌNH CỦA MỘT THỜI ĐÃ QUA
Vũ Đình Đỉnh giới thiệu
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Lời tòa soạn
Gần đây Thông tấn xã Reuters (roi-tơ), một trong những cơ quan truyền thông lớn nhất trên thế giới đã viết một bài phóng sự dài về tình trạng thanh thiếu niên Việt Nam ở các đô thị lớn sống một cuộc sống buông thả, vội vã, không đếm xỉa đến người xung quanh mà cũng không cần biết đến ngày mai. Phải chăng đây là một hiện tượng nhất thời của một quốc gia đang trên đường tiến triển tới công nghệ hóa hay là hậu quả đương nhiên sau một cuộc chiến tranh khủng khiếp khi giá trị con người được coi là thứ yếu. Với sự đồng ý của tác giả cuốn sách song ngữ “Selected Vietnamese Poetry” Thơ Tân Hình Thức xin trình bầy chọn lọc dưới đây chin bài thơ nổi tiếng trong số 31 bài thơ trong Chương Thứ Tư nhan đề Love: Vietnamese Style của cuốn sách trên. Đây là những bài thơ nói đến tình yêu qua thi ca trước 1975. Những giá trị về tình yêu của một thời đã qua còn hay mất xin để quí độc giả tự xuy ngẫm.
(Excerpts from Chapter IV of Selected Vietnames Poetry by Vũ Đình Đỉnh, Ph. D.)
Love: Vietnamese Style
A famed French poet once defined love as the resonant vibrations of two hearts and the contact between two epidermises. If these two conditions are required for the equation of love to be complete, then Vietnamese poets, at least among those whose poems I have included in this chapter, do not seem to share the same experience of love the way it was defined. To them love is something that is rarely reachable. It is as fleeting as the gossamer in the wind, as painful as the broken Mexican creepers, and as far away as the golden image deep in the ravine. The Vietnamese poet laureate of love, Xuân Diệu, wrote:
"To love is to die a little inside
As love seldom is returned with love.
So much is given but little is received in return.
Deceit or indifference is not known."
Indeed, out of 31 poems selected on this subject, only six express some satisfaction with love. You may think that the word "love," the relationship between a man and a woman, or whatever, is a universal language that can be translated easily into any other language. This is not so in Vietnamese. If you suddenly ask a Vietnamese to translate the simple phrase "I love my wife" without giving him time to think, he will have difficulty doing it. He probably will say, "Tôi yêu vợ tôi." There is nothing wrong with the translation grammatically. What is wrong is that it does not sound Vietnamese. We normally say, "Tôi thương nhà tôi," which literally means I have pity for my home, or "Tôi quí nhà tôi" meaning I respect my home. "Nhà" (home) is a common term referring to husband (chồng) or wife (vợ) in a dearer manner. In Vietnam, after marriage the relationship between husband and wife takes on a new meaning. For a marriage to last, a Vietnamese couple need to have love and an additional condition, obligation. This is the reason why 25 poems romanticized unfulfilled love. They seem to say love the way the French poet said ends with marriage. After marriage the relationship is no longer love in its strict sense. It has become love (tình) and obligation (nghĩa).
This chapter brings together a large number of love poems from the romantic era (1932-1945). You will be able to read "Olden Love" by Phan Khôi, who pioneered new poetry with experimentation in a modem form and with new ideas, though not completely broken away from tradition.
His followers, such as Xuân Diệu, Lưu Trọng Lư, Chế Lan Viên, Cù Huy Cận, Vũ Hoàng Chuơng, Hàn Mạc Tử, etc., completed the period with works which were skillfully composed, sincere and, of course, very romantic. They represent the searching souls of the nation, who were exposed to western civilization and aspired to do something constructive, but came to a dead end due to colonial repression. There was no liberal education, except in technical fields, to pursue, nor freedom to serve the country. They turned to poetry and did a splendid job at building the poetic garden. Also included are poems of the past by anonymous writers and one by a still-unchallenged poet laureate Nguyễn Du of the 1800s for you to compare. No selection of Vietnamese love poetry would be complete without poems by Hồ Xuân Hương, the poetess famous for her mischievous description of objects as common and unsensual as the jackfruits or sweet dumplings. And, to add a bit of humor to a sad story, Nguyễn Bính, our beloved country poet, mused about butterflies and love:
"I find my life so empty,
Because nobody loves me.
My life is like a garden
Full of flowers in bloom.
Butterflies promise to pay a visit,
But, then they lie…
Em thấy đời em trống trải nhiều,
Vì đời em chẳng có ai yêu.
Đời em là một vườn hoa nở,
Bướm hẹn về, rồi bướm nói điêu.
Phan Khôi
Olden Love
Twenty-four years ago,
On a windy and rainy night,
Under the dim light in a small room,
A young couple, head on shoulder, quietly bemoaned their fate:
-- "Alas! Our love for each other is still deep,
However, marriage is not possible.
Lest passionate love would lead to unfaithfulness,
The earlier we break up the better we are!"
-- "How can we think of such an awful thought?
To leave each other will break our hearts!
Let us love each other as much as we can
Since the Almighty has destined our fate!
We are just lovers, not husband and wife,
Faithfulness is not what we should worry about?"
. . .
Twenty-four years later.
By chance we run into each other in an alien place:
Our hair has turned gray.
Had we not been intimate,
It is unlikely that we would recognize each other!
Now we just talk about the past.
As we part,
We still make eyes at each other.
Note
This poem was published in Phụ Nữ Tân Văn (New Literary Women's Magazine) on March 10, 1932, a date often used as the beginning of the modern poetry movement in Vietnam.
Phan Khôi
Tình Già
Hai mươi bốn năm xưa,
Một đêm vừa gió lại vừa mưa,
Dưới ngọn đèn mờ, trong gian nhà nhỏ,
Hai cái đầu xanh kề nhau than thở:
-- “Ôi đôi ta tình thương nhau thì vẫn nặng,
Mà lấy nhau hẳn là không đặng,
Để đến nỗi tình trước phụ sau,
Chi cho bằng sớm liệu mà buông nhau!"
-- "Hay nói mới bạc làm sao chớ?
Buông nhau làm sao cho nỡ!
Thương được chừng nào hay chừng ấy,
Chẳng qua ông trời bắt đôi ta phải vậy!
Ta là nhân ngãi, đâu phải vợ chồng
Mà tính việc thủy chung?"
. . .
Hai mươi bốn nărn sau,
Tình cờ trên đất khách gặp nhau:
Đôi cái đầu đều bạc.
Nếu chẳng quen lung đố cóù nhin ra được!
Ôn chuyện cũ mà thôi.
Liếc đưa nhau đi rồi,
Con mắt còn có đuôi.
Huy Cận
Regret
Afternoon sun sets across the fields…
Amidst a quiet garden a young girl is folding the betel leaf.
In the air, a lonely spider is deftly spinning.
My dear! Go to sleep… I will serve you with this fan,
Which is open wide as my heart.
Hundreds of beautiful birds hover above
To make your sleep a peaceful dream!
Sleep well, my dear! Soft breezes rustle through rows of willow
As tall trees cast their long, languishing shadows.
Time and time again, have broken hearts mellowed your soul?
Please place your head on my arm
So I can hear the heavy drops of sorrow…
Note
I wish to thank Miss Ngô Mai Kha, Xuân Diệu's niece, who informed me that I had misunderstood the word "trinh nũ" in line two of the poem "Regret" by Huy Can. She said "trinh nữ" does not mean a virgin woman but refers to a plant when touched the leaves of which droop and close. After having looked up the word in dictionaries and talked to several elderly north Vietnamese, I found that in North Vietnam the plant is only known as "cây xấu hổ," which literally means the plant that is shy. In Central and South Vietnam the plant is popularly known as "cây mắc cở" (shy plant) and in literary circle "trinh nữ" (virgin woman). Actually, the full literary name of the plant is "trinh nữ thảo" (plant that is virgin). The common name of the plant in English is sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) from Central America. I believe Huy Cận, who was born in Central Vietnam but spent most of his life in North Vietnam, had cleverly played on words with the name. Now knowing the double meaning of "trinh nữ;" I decide to retain my original translation.
In 2003, Dr. Peter Askim, a composer and assistant professor of music at the University of Hawaii, put Huy Cận's "Regret" to music and the poem has since been interpreted many times at Cornell University, in Pennsylvania, and in Hawaii by Miss Judith Kellock, an Emma-award soprano singer nominee and assistant professor of music in New York City. Recently, “Regret” was included in a musical CD entitled East Meets West sung by Judith Kellock, soprano & Friends. The CD was produced by Albany Records U.S.
Huy Cận
Ngậm Ngùi
Nắng chia nửa bãi; chiều rồi...
Vườn hoang trinh nữ xếp đôi lá rầu.
Sợi buồn con nhện giăng mau;
Em ơi! Hãy ngủ... anh hầu quạt đây.
Lòng anh mở với quạt này;
Trăm con chim mộng về bay đầu giường.
Ngủ đi em, mộng bình thường!
Ru em sẵn tiếng thùy dương mấy bờ;
Cây dài bóng xế ngẩn ngơ...
-- Hồn em đã chín mấy lần thươg đau?
Tay anh em hãy tựa đầu,
Cho anh nghe nặng trái sầu rụng rơi…
Thanh Tịnh
Gossamer and l'Amour
T'was about this month a long time ago,
When rice fields rustled and winds frolicked with trees.
By chance she and I together gazed at
A gossamer, which floats lazily in the air.
The wind tangled one end on me
And the other on her, which she gently brushed aside.
With her hat tipping, she smiled, her cheeks a rosyblush.
In rapture my mind wanders wantonly to the distant clouds.
Now, searching for the old image amidst the fields
All I can see are rice plants glossed with flowers.
A gossamer slowly drifts by,
Linking my luck to… a space that is sadly void.
Thanh Tịnh
Tơ Trời Với Tơ Lòng
Còn nhớ hôm xưa độ tháng này,
Cánh đồng xào xạc gió đùa cây.
Vô tình thiếu nữ cùng ta ngắm
Một đoạn tơ trời lững thững bay.
Tơ trời theo gió vướng mình ta,
Mối khác bên này nhẹ bỏ qua.
Nghiêng nón nàng cuời, đôi má thắm,
Ta nhìn vơ vẩn áng mây xa.
Tìm dấu hôm xưa giữa cánh đồng,
Bên mình chỉ nhận lúa đầy bông.
Tơ tròi lơ lửng vươn mình uốn
Đến nối duyên mình với... cõi không.
Võ Quang Tần
Do Not Hurt the Grasses
Darling, please. Be a little gentler.
Do not hurt the grasses around us.
They form the beautiful green carpet
On which our images are imprinted this evening.
Võ Quang Tần
Đừng Làm Đau Cỏ
Ấy đừng. Khe khẽ kia anh
Đừng làm đau cỏ nơi quanh chúng mình.
Cỏ làm nên thảm biếc xanh
Để in bóng của chúng mình chiều nay.
Xuân Diệu
Flowers Bloom to Wilt
Flowers bloom only to drop.
Full moon awaits crescent moon.
Water hyacinths collect to disperse.
Lovers meet only to bid farewell.
Colors of autumn flowers fade
Although the sun has not shined.
On her face I see traits of pain.
Xuân Diệu
Hoa Nở Để Mà Tàn
Hoa nở để mà tàn
Trăng tròn để mà khuyết
Bèo hợp để mà tan
Người gần để li biệt
Hoa thu không nắng cũng phai mầu
Trên mắt nguời kia in nét đau.
Vũ Hoàng Chương
Secret Love
I knew you
When you were only twelve.
I loved you
When your hair flowed just over your shoulders.
Time passes so quickly,
Six years have gone by.
Still I do not quite understand
That "not yet" means "never," my love!
Note
The English version of this poem was put to music by Professor Peter Askim in 2003 and recorded in 2007 as a part of the CD entitled East Meets West, which is distributed by Albany Records U.S.
Vũ Hoàng Chương
U Tình
Anh biết em từ độ
Em mới tuổi mười hai.
Anh yêu em từ thưở
Em còn tóc xõa vai.
Tháng ngày đi mau quá,
Chốc đã sáu năm trời.
Tình anh vẫn chưa hiểu,
"Chưa" là "không" em ơi!
Hàn Mạc Tử
Shyness
Along the willow branches the moon lies unattached,
Awaiting wintry winds to arrive for romance...
Enraptured, flowers and leaves are holding their breaths,
While my heart is rapidly palpitating,
my dear Sister Moon…
Rustling through the pampas grasses:
Is somebody's voice spoken from the heart,
and then silence?
Oh! Can't you see the bare moon bathing,
Showing her golden image deep in the ravine.
In the middle of the night, I unintentionally allow the wind
To kiss my cheeks, causing me great embarrassment.
I am afraid that if my husband knows,
He will be suspicious of my virginity...
Note
Hàn Mạc Tử had several open and secret admirers whom he never met. Shortly after his name as a poet became known in the literary circle, he was found to suffer from leprosy. He was kept in isolation from the outside world. Meanwhile he and his admirers continued to exchange love poems through the published media until he died.
Hàn Mạc Tử
Bẽn Lẽn
Trăng nằm sóng soãi trên cành liễu,
Đợi gió đông về để lả lơi ...
Hoa lá ngây tình không muốn động,
Lòng em hồi hộp, chị Hằng ơi ...
Trong khóm vi lau rào rạt mãi:
Tiếng lòng ai nói? Sao im đi?
Ô kìa, bóng nguyệt trần truồng tắm,
Lộ cái khuôn vàng dưới đáy khe…
Vô tình để gió hôn trên má,
Bẽn lẽn làm sao, lúc nửa đêm…
Em sợ lang quân em biết được,
Nghi ngờ đến cái tiết trinh em…
Nguyễn Bính
Yesteryears
Moonlight cast shadow on the tea garden.
In the little hut we lived happily together.
For the silk worms, I kept the run of mulberry leaves.
For my husband, I bit my lips to swallow bitterness.
If he passed the examination this time,
It would pay for all the hard work.
Otherwise, I would be laughed at by my friends
For having enamored him.
I had said to him again and again:
"If you don't pass the exam,
There will be no bed-sharing."
One "quan" is worth six hundred "đồng"
I saved them month after month to support him.
My husband proudly rode the horse after graduation
As guards lined up along the way to protect him.
I went to greet him at the foot of the tropical almond tree.
He dismounted the horse
And was admired by everyone in the village.
Tonight is really the night,
When moonlight basks softly over the tea garden.
Nguyễn Bính
Thời Trước
Sáng giăng chia nửa vườn chè
Một gian nhà nhỏ đi về có nhau.
Vì tầm tôi phải chạy dâu,
Vì chồng tôi phải qua cầu đắng cay.
Chồng tôi thi đỗ khoa này
Bõ công đèn sách từ ngày lấy tôi.
Kẻo không rồi chúng bạn cười
Rằng tôi nhan sắc cho người say sưa.
Tôi hằng khuyên sớm khuyên trưa
"Anh chưa thi đỗ thì chưa động phòng."
Một quan là sáu trăm đồng,
Chắt chiu tháng tháng cho chồng đi thi.
Chồng tôi cưỡi ngựa vinh qui
Hai bên có lính hầu đi dẹp đường.
Tôi ra đến tận gốc bàng,
Chồng tôi xuống ngựa, cả làng ra xem.
Đêm nay mới thật là đêm,
Ai đem giăng giãi lên trên vườn chè.
Nguyễn Du
Bidding Farewell
(Excerpt from “New Cries from a Gut-wrenched Soul”)
"If you love me, do not forget what I said;
One year seems to be very long, but time flies!
Let's empty our cups to mark today's parting,
A joyous drink awaits your return a year from now!"
He gets on the horse; I let my hand go of his coattail.
Autumn maple forest takes on a tint of sad nostalgia.
No sooner than the horse stirs up a cloud of dust
He disappears behind a stretch of mulberry trees.
I go home lonely at night,
He travels miles and miles all by himself.
Somebody has whimsically split the moon,
Sending one half to my lone pillow
And the other to illuminate his wayward journey.
Nguyễn Du
Tiễn Đưa
(Trích Đoạn Trường Tân Thanh)
"Thương nhau xin nhớ lời nhau,
Năm chầy cũng chẳng đi đâu mà chầy!
Chén đưa nhớ bữa hôm nay, Chén mừng xin đợi ngày nầy năm sau!"
Người lên ngựa kẻ chia bào,
Rừng phong thu đã nhuốm mầu quan san.
Dặm hồng bụi cuốn chinh an Trông người đã khuất mấy ngàn dâu xanh. Người về chiếc bóng năm canh,
Kẻ đi muôn dặm một mình xa xôi.
Vầng trăng ai xẻ làm đôi;
Nửa in gối chiếc, nửa soi dậm trường.
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Last modified on 08/22/2007 – 8:00 PM © 2004 – 2007 www.thotanhinhthuc.org.
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