DAY DREAM
I rode an ant in search of fairy-grottoes
Immortal realms with flocks of meandering butterflies
Toads and tree-frogs wandering in search of life
In deep caverns, a snake slumbers in reverie.
At the grotto entrance, a swarm of bees swirled in dance
A wild flower of the crimson forest sensuous
Bashful of fragrance and hue, the old rushes straightened up
Becoming an old immortal’s gently waving white hair
The ant crawled around, struggling to find life
Riding on its back a debt of love
Also, the forlorn fate of my Fatherland
Still as loyal, oh fragile threads of sunlight
I asked the ant – where is it, the Pure-land or which way to Stillness?
Beyond the void, traces of birds in flight
The voice of a blackened and bitter land from the earth
Lighting up my mind in place of the sunlight
I called the ant while silver clouds pondered
On the road of my wondering, my country anguished
Peeling away the past, heavenly beings shudder in shock
Biting into the infinite expanse, a dream shattered in two
A nation, sunk in grief ever since
Midnight fires in the forest embracing dead and desiccated leaves
I go in search of a shattered heart
Starving for time, biting into nothingness.
Saigon 1984
Translated by Phe Bach
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