By Lê Vĩnh Tài, translated by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

NOT A GRAVE

.

I’m asleep in the forest

the night silently swallowed me

.

I didn’t try to fight it

graves, overwhelming the tired souls

.

as for the trees

I love them more than all things

rustling

.

there’s a drunk, he’s blue and a little dark,

he asked: long ago, if this was what I wanted?

the days when tiredness did never touch me

.

I would lie down

dug a hole in my bed

then waited for the tree roots to fill it up

waited for the leaves to cast shadows over my eyes

.

I was a growing tree

in the middle of the forest

dissolved in the embrace of my lover

and unhappiness shall never be say,

displayed

.

on the branches 

I’m dangling

until the poem came to

replaced me…

_____

KHÔNG PHẢI…