thơ song ngữ : Dòng sông rửa tội & The Baptismal River

THE BAPTISMAL RIVER

Le Thi Cong Nhan

Take a clod of earth
smear it on your face
in my country everyone does so / must do it
to sing the praise of Ho Chi Minh.

In a tomb like yours
where it’s hard to be chillier
what are you thinking,
o mummy?

With your soul wandering everywhere in that murky universe,
waiting for the day of final reckoning,
they have—by mishap—made you a saint,
no more chance you have

So refuse the honor if that’s still possible
for only repentance can save you
even though you no longer have a chance to repent in front of us,
no longer

I look at your mausoleum
and I cry
for me, and this nation, and even your goddamn party
we have all been buried in that tomb
in multiple ways
whereas in real time there are such things
as my young years, my youth
the future of the communist party
and the present of this nation
have all been
dyed red, blood red by our real blood shed

I have often gone in search of a river
born of real springs
that originate from deep in the forests

I wish to be able to bathe in it
to freshen my face in that cool and clean stream
so as to wash off the dirt and slime
and blood
and fire
all over my body, all over this nation
and in every corner of my homeland, Vietnam

Beloved and suffering!

As all our rivers have now been polluted
by the red mud of bauxite exploitation
by poisonous effluents
by industrial development
and by chemical fertilizers
and all those world-shaking victories
in the five continents and four oceans
(let’s for a moment accept those slanderous claims)

Darling, I’ll just have to kill you
Honored father, as your son I must kill you, too
As for mother, what is she for?
Neighbors and friends?
Let’s ignore them, they don’t exist

All in the name of the communist ideal, of socialism
in the name of Marxism-Leninism and Maoism
and Stalinism, too
our people’s blood has dyed our rivers red

I’ve looked and looked hope against hope
with my small hands and my two small feet
they are bleeding red
yet I don’t find anything but a vast infinity
of atrocious tyranny
and lies and untruths

I want to take off everything
my uniforms and all my thinking inside my soul
so that I can bathe in a river
originating in a quiet forest
named Love and Forgiveness
Justice and Truth
The Beginning, the End and the Only Truth
Just once
So that
Everything could be reborn

Hola, Ho Chi Minh
And his Mentor, Mao Zedong
Are you still in a position to repent?
I am afraid
NOT! 

Translated by Nguyen Ngoc Bich

January 21, 2011