Premonition – A Bouquet of Poems from Vietnam
Poet Nguyen Dac Lap from Vietnam, the Land of Blue Dragon, shares his seven poems
Nguyen Dac Lap
Hailing from Tan Uoc, Thanh Oai, Ha Dong District, Hanoi, poet Nguyen Dac Lap is Member of Vietnam Writers’ Association and Hanoi Writers’ Association. His published literary works include: Strange land (Poetry – 1995), Premonition (Poetry – 2000), Desert flower (Poetry – 2004), City (Poetry – 2008), Standing cloud (Poetry – 2011) and The Voice of Time (Poetry – 2018). He won several literary awards that are: Nguyen Trai Art and Literature Prize in Ha Tay Province, 3rd (2001-2005); Second prize of Ha Tay poetry contest (2006-2007) and Medal for the cause of Vietnamese literature and art. Poet says, “I write about my experiences in life. Striving to write well, honestly towards the noble humanity.”
Premonition
I have a premonition of something
Today can be alive and tomorrow can be gone
My father’s image
All hard years
Close people never come back
Yesterday was still alive with me
The girl next door did not talk, only smile
From the day she got married
Cheeks were no longer pinky
What tomorrow will be like
People with bent backs piled up years
Children grow up without seeing their parents and grandparents
The land at beginning of the village
More graves will be narrower
Like a small town
In fairy tales
Loneliness and old age made my eyes blurred smoggy.
When we are alive, why not get closer
So that we have to miss each other now
Oh! Humans are not easy to overcome ourselves
Dear suffering hearts
With eternal love.
***
Love for Cuc Phuong forest
Dear Cuc Phuong!
All year round quietly
You are virgin
Thousand years is still new
Trees in trees, layers of leaves and branches
Dear Cuc Phuong
Is it half a bright moon among the romantic sky
You are silent with your own love
Your hands hold the sunshine
Cherishing the falling raindrops
Let the scent be spread
And the green shoots at rock-cracks be germinated
I walk alone
Finding the scattered sunlight in middle of the forest
Among noisy life
Green in four seasons
An eternal love
Cuc Phuong forest…
***
To the top
In front of me is a mountain. When was a child, I often dreamed of climbing up to the top to see what was on it.
Time passed, I have been to many places but not been reached to the top of the mountain. There was a time when I tried to climb near to the top, the top suddenly mixed with the clouds…
One night, I found myself walking on the top of the mountain. There was a trail. At the end of the road was a milestone inscribed with the names of those who have stepped foot to the top of the mountain. Surprise, I saw my name there.
Awakened, I knew I was dreaming.
From that day on, the top of the mountain suddenly became as close to me as I had been there…
At nights, the mountain clouds overflow, the mountain suddenly is sunk into the clouds…
***
To meet at Do Temple
Happily unclear voices of juniors in front of the temple gate
Like past Ly Cong Uan played at Co Phap Temple
Thousand years was passed
The clouds of that time are returned…
***
Buddha statue
One hundred and eight Bodhisattvas
One hundred and eight ways of practice
You stand next to the Buddha statue
Taking a photo with a fresh smile
A person plays two strings instrument next to the Buddha statue
Waiting for the sound of a falling money…
***
Hoang Thanh Well
So many dynasties were buried deep under the ground
Well water mirrored for thousands of years
Hoang Thanh well remembered the people of that time
Intact pure, the water source of the Hung King…
***
Sudden poem
The global is getting warm, human love is getting cold
Loneliness of human life
Memories fly away
Suddenly alone among living days
The old trees falling down by the time
Smiles with white hair
How many branches a heavy tree
The bracelet that was full of trees is now
A tree is carried by many heavy branches
The arms of that time, are full of trees now
There are people who always causing miserable for others
Because they can’t stand on their own
Have to rely on others
Living without yielding to each other
Getting pain in graves when dying
The forest is still there but I am a different person
You are the same, leaves falling many times.
Turning out, trees are harder than the sky
Sunshine is like fire, still smile, still happy.
Sunshine is like a grumpy old woman
At the end of the afternoon, it’s more severe sunshine
Trees talk with the earth by buds
Wind talks with the sky by flying clouds.
There is no way in the sky
White clouds mix in white clouds
Aiming to the flying direction into the road.
A bird wing, a dot
Then mixing among clouds at the end of the sky…
___________________
(Translated into English by Khanh Phuong)
