Page 110 - Dragon&Fairy in Poetry

Dragon & Fairy In Poetry

HOW COULD I ANSWER

Original “Biết Trả Lời Sao” by NGUYỄN
PHÚ LONG

We too, as boys, in the past, did go to school;
Swimming, chuck-farthing, still used to drool.
Grown up, moved to the cities with friends staying,
We dragged on, half studying half playing.
Tutoring the younger to subsist was our nightly path;
Literature, law, then, when bored, general math.
Dissipation and insobriety round-the-clock
Caused friends far and near to jeer and mock.
Going berserk, we ejected the pen, also the mess,
To embrace the M-16, put on the battle dress.
Enemies, brothers-in-arms, life and death fighting...
Exiled, dejected, I have switched to poetry writing...
*
Sometimes my children nowadays have asked
Oh Dad, what did you do during the war in the past?
How could I answer them? What reply to yield?
If I died for our dear fatherland on the battlefield,
Maybe I was made an immortal hero unconcealed!

Translation by THANH-THANH

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