Em Và Tôi

You And Me
Sóng Việt-Ðàm Giang
Commentary and Translation by Thomas D. Le



For long, long years, he exiled himself in silent seclusion, and deliberately cut himself off from the world. No, he did not sell his house and move to the mountains far away from civilization. But it was close because the desert that lived in his soul, the vapidity that gnawed at his mind, and the emptiness that filled his heart were real to him. Nothing could induce him to leave the bleak ivory tower of his voluntary but poignant solitude. There was no one out there, he thought, who mattered to him. And there was no one out there who could fire up his imagination, liberate his poetry, and set his romantic soul on fire. Did he ever dream of an Erato, who would appear from nowhere and by sheer force of personality or beauty awaken his desire to feel again, and express his emotions in poetry? Perhaps he had given up hope and faith for the heart shrivels for lack of nurture and tender feelings.
Then one day, as if by Providence or by serendipity, a radiant woman came to his dream. An extraordinary person had stepped into his barren, loveless world. Gently and tenderly she covered him with the subtle mantle of her charms, and woke him up from his long self-imposed sleep. He opened his eyes and found out too late what had happened. Was it a dream, or was it real? Her eyes and smile assured him that it had been a dream no more. She had arrived, to stay.
He pinched himself to make sure he had not lost sanity or consciousness. For the real world could very well play tricks on anyone's perceptions, especially when the dream he had nurtured in his heart for so long had come true all of a sudden. He had found his Muse breaking out of the mist of his longing to give him renewed energy and life. He was, not so much in a metaphorical as in a very real sense, revived from the death of oblivion and the dark of despair.
You and Me marvelously captures the romance and psychology of the man and his newfound love in the epiphany of mutual discovery.
At long last he had found exactly what had been missing in his life. A woman with grace, dignity, charm, passion, beauty and intellect who communicates so easily and spontaneously with him. He knew instinctively that they were made for each other. And she knew it too. Why did it have to take so long for their paths to cross? This, like so many other questions in life, is an unanswerable question. But now it really did not matter that much. He was content to let unanswerable questions stay the way they are for no one needs to answer all questions to live a meaningful life.
It is enough for him to sense that she was now his, for himself only. She had been hiding all his life, only to appear at her own pleasure, and at her own timing. She brought fulfillment to his yearning, beauty to his verses, music to his ears, and delight to his soul. What a miracle that she existed at all, for a human being as endowed as she was just did not seem to be in the realm of possibility.
For her he now writes poetry. He now sings of her beauty, of the music of her voice, of the grace of her being, and of the charm of her eyes. And he extols her attributes during the day and at night when the stars scintillate in the mysterious sky above.
His verses weave strands of love in the morning dew. He casts them across the world to cover all the grasses and the trees with the fragrance of tender feelings. He sings his verses in the gathering dusk too for the love that has begun to take roots is so delicate and crystal-pure that it needs to be raised by voices of adulation at the mood-setting sundown.
She opens in him the gate of passion and releases the energy of his feelings. She gives him a world of creative vitality for him to reign as master. For she knows this is the reason she has come in the first place. She has come to give him voice, and knows that once freed from his shackles he will soar to the stars on his passion and love for her.
She knows this because the butterflies that flit about and the flowers that smile whisper in his ears the eternal message of love. They gently tell him to keep loving and to keep the excitement and the passion he feels alive for they are as real as life and love are real.
As I read Sóng Việt's poem, I was struck by her uncanny ability to stir the reader's heart with her insight, her empathy, and her simple yet highly evocative language. At times it is hard for me to distinguish between her poem from one I wish I could have written under the circumstances that she depicted.
It is this artistic sensibility and unerring perceptiveness that endear her to her readers.
And if you gentlemen have a romantic penchant let me warn you: without the protection of your clinical detachment and a prosaic approach, You and Me might just lead you to believe that Sóng Việt-Đàm Giang is really talking about you and your sweetheart.


“Bây giờ đã biết người trong mộng
Nguồn thơ lai láng dậy nỗi lòng”

Em là nàng thơ của riêng tôi
Nàng thơ đi trốn thuở xa xôi
Bây giờ em đến trong mộng thắm
Má đỏ môi hồng của tôi thôi.

Tôi dệt những vần thơ tặng em
Êm như điệu nhạc dáng em mềm
Lả lướt cùng tôi vờn mắt biếc
Một trời quyến rũ như sao đêm.

Dòng thơ tôi viết như nắng sương
Phủ lên cây cỏ ngát thơm hương
Như ánh chiều tà trên ngọn lá
Lung linh trong tình yêu vừa ươm

Em là cách cửa tình mê say
Vườn riêng làm chủ một cõi này
Bướm lượn hoa cười như thầm bảo
Rằng cứ yêu em cứ rộn ràng.

You and Me
"At last I know my dream lady,
Who now sets free my poetry."

You are my Muse and mine alone
From where you hid silent so long.
In my sweet dream you came to dwell
So rosy-cheeked and red-lipped swell.

I write verses to sing of you.
You're like music, and graceful too,
Flirting with me with your bright eyes,
Romancing under starry skies.

My poems sprout in dewy morn
Spread fragrance o'er the grass newborn,
And through the dusk on the green leaves
Our newfound love for all the eves.

You are the gate to passion's love
For me only the garden cove.
The butterflies and flowers say,
Love her with all your heart today.
4 July 2003

Vous et moi
"Aujourd'hui je connais l'objet de mon beau rêve.
Elle donne mes poèmes leur liberté, cette Eve."

Vous êtes ma Muse et pour moi seul, mon bien-aimée
Pourtant des années durant vous vous êtes cachée.
Maintenant vous êtes là dans mon rêve si réelle
Avec vos joues roses et vos lèvres rouges très belles.

J'écris des vers pour célébrer votre beauté,
Une mélodie dans ta grâcieuse nouveauté,
Echangeant nos amours dans vos yeux merveilleux
Pleins de séduction comme des étoiles aux cieux.

Mes vers s'éparpillent par les matins brumeux
Et couvrent les herbes de parfum merveilleux.
Aussi sur les feuilles au crépuscule ils s'éveillent
Chantant notre nouvel amour au ciel vermeil.

Vous ouvrez la porte de l'amour passionné
De notre jardin exclusif à nos randonnées.
Les papillons et les fleurs souriant nous disent,
Aimez-la donc de toute votre âme éprise.
4 Juillet 2003


Em Và Tôi
By Reverof

“Em và Tôi” đặt lời nói vào chàng, như thể chính chàng viết vậy, và từ cái nhìn đó nàng chuyển đến chàng những lời như muốn chàng nói với nàng.

“Em yêu mến
Anh rất cảm động vì những tình cảm của em.
“Anh rất yêu cái tình tứ lãng mạn vô cùng em đã gắn cho anh, như thể nhắc cho anh nhớ rằng em là người giầu tình cảm, ưa thích những cử chỉ ân cần săn sóc anh . Anh yêu những hình ảng dịu dàng thơ mộng của:

Em là nàng thơ của riêng tôi
Nàng thơ đi trốn thuở xa xôi
Bây giờ em đến trong mộng thắm
Má đỏ môi hồng của tôi thôi.

Em là nàng thơ của anh, từ nơi xa xôi nào đến. Anh yêu mấy chữ “của tôi thôi” diễn tả trung thực tâm tình của anh.

Em như điệu nhạc, dáng em mềm
Lả lướt cùng tôi vờn mắt biếc
Một trời quyến rũ như sao đêm

Làm sao mà tưởng tượng được cái đẹp vô cùng của những lời thơ trên.
Thân em nhẹ nhàng như nhạc, yểu điệu lả lướt, và cùng anh chúng ta nhìn nhau đắm đuối quyến rũ như một trời đầy sao đêm. Ôi óc tưởng tượng của em quả thật vô song.

Yêu em, anh viết những dòng thơ như nắng sớm trải lên cây cỏ ngát hương. Em hình dung thơ anh như thảm nắng trên cỏ, như ánh chiều ta trên ngọn lá “lung linh trong tình yêu” vừa chớm nở.
Anh yêu những hình ảnh cực kỳ thi vị, đầy yêu đương ngọt ngào mà em viết giùm anh. Em nhắc anh những gì em thích, em muốn anh trao em những cử chỉ âu yếm nhẹ nhàng, thơ mộng, tế nhị, dịu dàng.”

Đoạn chót của bài thơ là một cách thể thi vị mời mọc chàng nên giữ tình yêu mà nàng dành cho chàng, một thông điệp có “bướm lượn hoa cười”, có mãi “ cứ yêu em cứ rộn ràng”; có nàng cho chàng cái diễm phúc mở cửa vườn hoa tình ái, cho chàng vào “một mình một cõi”:

Em là cách cửa tình mê say
Vườn riêng làm chủ một cõi này
Bướm lượn hoa cười như thầm bảo
Rằng cứ yêu em cứ rộn ràng.

Ôi, một thông điệp tình yêu dễ thương làm sao!

Reverof