Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 3, 2012

WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER / selected, translated ... by Don Luce, John . C. Schafer ...

       INTRODUCTION TO  WHO PROMISE ONE ANOTHER  / POEMS FROM AN ASIAN  WAR      
                selected , translated from the vietnamese by DON LUCE, J.C. SCHAFER &  J. HAGNON. 
                    
Lời dẫn :  ....tập sách nhỏ in mimeographed - a  booklet on vietnamese  poetry chẳng có gì sai !  120 trang khổ nhỏ , Don Luce  cùng  John  C. Schafer & Jacquelyn Chagnon   sưu tập,  chuyển ngữ sang anh ngữ về  chiến tranh Việtnam :
     " From  Vietnamese mythology comes an aspiring proverb about strugggling towards the    impossible and finally succeeding .     We dedicate these poems to those who promise   :

                           " To mend the sky and fill the ocean  / Vá trời và lấp biển ". 

              đây là mục lục :

                                                             Contents

        INTRODUCTION
        
           NGUYEN DU    :  AN ANCIENT MASTER
                        Kim  Vân Kiều         7
                        Calling the Wandering Souls  

        THE TWO WORLD OF LUU TRONG LU      17
                        The Sound of Autumn
                         White Clouds
                         When Autumn Ends
                         Women of the South

           GROWING  UP IN VIỆTNAM
                         Invasion               Huy Vũ       21
                         Thirty- Four Years          Nguyễn văn Biên    22
                          Letter to my   Father           H. T.     24
                          Please Give  Me Back          Hoàng Minh Nhân     

            FOREIGN  INTERVENTION
                        Auction                Phạm Thế Mỹ       31  
                       What A Sight : 550, 000  GI' s
                                                    in Vietnam      Thế Phong     33             
                      Child of  Mỹ Lai            Lê   Dân  41 

             STRUGGLE
                       I ' d  Rather See But Darkness    Nguyễn Đình Chiểu    44
                       Brother   Cadre      Xuân Thủy     45
                       Let Us Stand Up         Thái Nguyên   47
                       Poem of Hope       Thiên Lý      49
                       Salt               Thu Bồn                    51
                       Daughter of Việtnam        Tố  Hữu       52

            ATTITUDE TOWARD WOMEN
                      Night Crossing    Giang Nam    57
                      Girl of Việtnam    Trịnh Công Sơn    60
                       Black Flower       A High School
                                                   Student from Đà  Nẵng       62

             LOVE' S    SADNESS
                       A  Guerrilla'  s  Tale              Giang Nam       67
                        Girl of the South     Tế Hanh       69
                        Splinters of Remembrance            A Student from the
                                                                        University of   Dalat     71
                        Bright  Eyes Looking Up        Hồ  Bắc   73

           MOTHER,  I  DO NOT TO KILL MY BROTHERS
                        A Dream  Which has Withered      Hoàng Minh Nhân    77
                        The Present      A High School  Student from Đà Nẵng    79
                         Dead Bodies            A Student      81
                         Fruit of War            Thy Can        82                 
                        Music on Battlefield              Nhuệ Hà         83
                         Mother,  Raise Me to Be
                                              a Prisoner       Miên Đức Thắng     85

           TRỊNH CÔNG SƠN
                        Heritage of Our Mother Land                            89
                        Love Song of a Woman Maddened By the War       91
                        I  Shall  Go Visiting                               92

            POEMS FROM PRISON
                       Breaking Rocks on Côn Sơn        Phan Chu Trinh   97
                       Tung Chun Prison                Hồ Chí Minh   98
                        On the Way to Nanning      Hồ Chí Minh   98
                        Pastoral Scene                   Hồ Chí Minh     98
                        Poems from Prison           Thảo Giang   99
                        Sweet Red Blood of the Earth   Gianh ( Giang ?) 102
                        Our Unity            Kiến Nam               103
                        The Prison Island of  Côn Sơn   Thép Xanh  106
                        Walton ' s  Recreation Camp    Cửu Long      108

             NHAT CHI MAI
                        I  Kneel Down and Pray                                                                        

              THICH NHAT HANH :   PRAYERS FOR PEACE
                       Night of  Prayer                                                           115
                       Recommendations                      118


                                              Artwork

             Two  Phoenixes : Symbols of Peace    Trần Khánh Tuyết         1
                  Studying                                          Hồng  Hải       2
                  Kim Meets Kiều          Nguyễn Tử Nghiêm              5
                  A Wanderer                         Thái Hà                          12
                   Placid Waters       Artist unknown                   15
                  Deer in Autumn             Artist unknown            17
                  Mother Nam ,  a Guerrilla Leader     Huỳnh Phương Đông    19
                  A Combatant of the NLF           Huỳnh Phương Đông       19
                  Child Pulling an Oxen            Trần Đại Quang          20
                  Youth                              Huỳnh Phương Đông       21
                  Young School Boy        Nguyễn Hồng Sơn          23
                 A Child Guerrilla           Thái Hà                    25
                 Please Give Me Back        Hoàng Minh Nhân         27
                  Hue ,  1968 *                 Võ Đình         30
                 The Yankee have Passed By Here   !   Lê Hồng  Hải    35
                 Humiliation                A Student          37
                  Machine I **              Võ Đình            40
                  The return  *             Võ Đình              41
                   A Mother Pears         Artist  unknown      42
                  Cartridges Taken from the  Enemey     Thái Hà  45
                  Congress of Caombatants          Thái Hà        46
                  Day the revolution Begins      Phạm Hữu Lương     48
                  Lotus Moon **      Võ Đình           49
                  Liaison Poste         Tân Long Châu      51
                  A   Chu- Chi Woman Guerrilla   Huỳnh Phương Đông   53
                  Sadness      Tôn Thọ Quân        54
                   Vietnmaese Girl Poised Near a Pillow    Bé Ký    55
                  Vietnamese Girl Carrying her Hat      Bé  Ký  56
                  Bridge Destroyed by the Guerrillas    Huỳnh Phương Đông  59
                  Young Girl          Huỳnh Phương Đông   60
                  A View          Bùi Văn Minh          64
                  Anger     Mao Trí  Thiền           68
                   A Resister         Huỳnh Phương Đông       70
                  Splinters of Remembrance     Hoàng Minh Nhân   72
                  Vietnamese Eyes      Artist unhnown   75
                  Of the Same Mother **       Võ Đình        77
                   A Fighter Writes to his Family      Thái Hà       80
                   After Combat       Huỳnh Phương Đông     84 
                   You Will Have Revenge ,  My Child     Huỳnh Phương Đông  85
                   From Suffering Rises the Bird of Peace    Bửu Chỉ   88
                   Voice form the Burning House         Võ Đình      90
                   Shrine on the Side of the Road     Tôn Thọ Quân   93
                    Pacification         Va          96
                    Testify             A Former Prisoner   100
                    Strength          Bửu Chỉ         101
                    Underground     Nguyễn văn Kính   105
                    The Cry for Justice  *      Võ Đình  107 
                    Shackled in the Tiger Cage   A Former Prisoner    110
                    Visage      Võ Đình        113
                    Prayer for  Peace    Artist unkown        117       


                  * Taken  from a series of eight woodcuts entitled  Crimson Silk  ( Hợp Tập
                      Nhiều Điều ) .   The series depicts the artist' s cry of despair over the killing
                      of Vietnamese by Vietnamese during the  Têt offensive of 1968.

                 **   Taken  from Cry of Vietnam ,  Unicorn Press , Santa Barbara ,  California .
                             ( Don Luce ' s notes ) .

                Bài  vào đề  ba vị sưu soạn thơ -   mà trong 2  giỏi  tận tường việt ngữ  ( Don Luce, John C, Schafer )  - đã  chuyển ngữ  tuyển tập thơ    WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER (  tạm dịch Đợi ngày chiến thắng ) dành tặng cho  những ai  ăn cơm dưới đất nói chuyện trên trời -   sau cùng , hóa ra  họ cũng  hoàn tất việc " vá trời và lấp biển" !

              Riêng tôi,  ban đầu có đôi  chút khó chịu  - bài thơ   ' What A Sight ,  550,000 GI' s in Vietnam !  bị Don Luce  tự ý  đưa vào tuyển tập thơ phản chiến  -   khiến  Tòa Đại sứ Hoa kỳ tại Việtnam đã từ chối không cấp visa  cho phép  một nhà văn miền Nam duy nhất được mời   sang  Huê Kỳ tham dự International Writing Program  ở Iowa   trong  thập niên 60 .

          Đường Bá Bổn .


                                                                I n t r o d u c t i o n  
                                                                     by
                                  DON LUCE  , JOHN C. SCHAFER  &  JACQUELYN CHAGNON

        These are the poems of the young of Vietnam.   They express the hopes and sorrows of a youth which has known only war .   There is little joy .   Joy does not comes often to a land which shines through in rare moments .   Tragically,   the love is often for a friend lost in the war .

              There is hatred too .   This is   the consequence  of brother  being pitted against brother .   It is  the result of a gforeign army trying to protect the corrupt and power - hungry .

              Underlying all else in these poems is the closeness of the family and the great love for Việtnam .   The respect and veneration of the ancestors is told here ,   the struggle to be worthy of the family is recorded in the writings of the youth .

               These are the poems that have sent the young to jail  - -  and the poems that were written in jail .   Some were smuggled out of the jails like Côn Sơn    and Chí Hòa ,   meticulously  copied by hand and passed from youth to youth .   Others were printed in underground newspapers and distributed in the crowded corridors of the schools and at the secret meeting places of the youth .   Many of the poems have been put to music by the popular young songwriters : Tôn Thất  Lập ,  Trịnh Công Sơn ,   Miên Đức Thắng .   These are sung wherever the youth meet ... at work camps ,   in crowded cafes ,  by lovers ,   in the prisons and during street demonstrations .

             The Vietnamese love poetry .   Their culture is best understood by their poems .   Though Vietnamese recognize the superior talent of their especially gifted poets and songwriters ,   they do not consisder poetry and song to be the special property of a small group of    literati .     They are for everyone .   Farmers ,   soldiers,  and students all write poems .   At the end of a party each person sttending is usually expected to sing a song or recite a poem .

           The interest in poetry  is part of the Vietnamese love of beauty ,   their devotion to aesthetics which is evident in their approach .   They are fond of saying  of a particularly courageous and inspiring person that his life was like a poem .   Nowhere are poetry and life more closely interested than in Việtnam .

            But  few outsiders have read the poems and understood the culture of Việtnam .   Few have listened to the voices of the people of Việtnam .   We  can also appreciate their beauty and the evidence they provide of the courage of a people who can still sing after years of unrelieved and war .

              The words are simple ,   but there is a depth of meaning .   There are,   however .   diffciculties in appreciating poetry filtered through literary and cultural sensibilities very different from our own .    To many Western readers these poems may seem overly sentimental and even perhaps self - indulgent .   We may tire when we hear continually of poor suffering Việtnam ,
doomed  love affairs,   prison tortures,  war and death .   But one must remember that these are all a part of life in Việtnam today ,   and Vietnmaese cannot avoid them .   In the poem " The Present " , the poet  tells of sitting down to write his girlfriend a love letter but finds the words " I love "  slanted by the explosion  of rockets ,   shaking his hand  holding the pen .   he ends    by saying
" Some day when there's peace   /  I will   write you a different poem ". 

             When   one considers all that hs happened to Việtnam ,   it is  remarkable that Vietnamese have not lost their ability to hope .   In a collection of songs called " Songs from the Devasted 
 Fields " ,   Miên Đức Thắng,   a popular  young songwriter and singer ,   expresss what has happened to his land and people .   These songs ,   particularly " Mother Raise Me to Be
a Prisoner " ,   are  very critical of the   Thiệu regime   and its American Allies .   Miên Đức Thắng  was put in prison for singing them ,  but he does not give in to despair .   In the title song ,  " Song from the Deveasted Fields " ,   he sings :
                                    
                    From  the devasted fields of today we sing these songs ;
                    Despite a thousand frighful years our life is still happy ,
                    Though weariness is printed on our dry hand ,
                     We will never give up .
                    Though our fields now are abandoned we will still work for tomorrow ,
                    Though our fields now are destroyed and lie fallow , ,
                    Tomorrow flowers will blossom nd the future will be bright .
                    So let us go and recultivate our fields ,
                    So we can live and die in our homeland ;
                    And tomorrow our land will flourish with  new ricefields ,
                    Tomorrow our land will blossom with more smiles ,
                    Tomorrow our land will be greener than the mountains and hills ,
                     For tomorrow we are determined to live in our land .

           In  the next  we are taught to suspect those who wear their hearts on their sleeves .   Many of us cling to the belief  that an emotional cry from the heart should be restrained and are ashamed or reluctant to give in to our true feelings .   With us there is the real danger that the levels of self- control we achieve may make us forget the validity  of the feeling they are designed to mask .   And it is wrong ,  it  would seem ,   for Americans who can absorb the horrors of a Mỹ Lai and saturation bombing  of a land and people with only ripples of guilt in the national consciouness to pass judgment on people who have not lost their capacity to weep in the face of suffering .   These poems are affirmations of feelings on the  part of a people who  have  long been treated by many Americans as if they had no feelings .   By reading their poetry we can learn what has happened to them ,  and hopefully ,   what has happened to us .
 []

  DON LUCE,    JOHN C. SCHAFER  &   JACQUELYN CHAGNON.

( from WE PROMISE ONE ANOTHER ,   POEMS FROM AN ASIAN WAR   / 
  selected, translated  by   DON LUCE,    J.C. SCHAFER   &    J. CHAGNON   / 
  Published by  The Indochina   Moblie Education Proje t -   Washington,   D .C. 1971 -   p. 1- 4 ).















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