Translated into English from Ngày Mai Tôi
Về, a Vietnamese song composed by Hàn Châu in 1973.
Hàn Châu, pen name of Lê Đ́nh Nam, was
born in 1947 in Bồng Sơn, B́nh Định province.
Ngày Mai Tôi Về wasn’'t an anti-war song but it was a
song of peace hope from the peace lovers in a country ruined
by continual wars after WWII.
DAVID LAN PHAM, F.A.B.I.
I WILL COME BACK TOMORROW
(English translation from Ngày Mai Tôi Về,
a Vietnamese song by Hàn Châu (1947-)
I will come back tomorrow,
Leaving behind the spike- traps, minefields.
In the immense joys, proudly I will return to someone
The horrible geographic names known by everyone:
A Giao (1), Cam Lộ (2), Southern Laos, Khe Sanh (3),
The cannon- balls explosion upon the Ancient Citadel (4).
Let’s glorify the green grassy graves
In which some people took their unconscious sleep in the
battlefields yesterday.
Alas! the battlefields were older than their age.
I will thank the existent lovers
For loving the young warriors in their long journeys.
I will thank our life for letting me see my friends, those
livings around me again.
Tomorrow there will be no longer cannon-balls explosion up
in the air
And fallen corpses in the combat trenches.
I will depart from the South to the North,
Drop by the Huong River (5) to see my lovely people,
To visit the city streets and neighborhoods,
Melancholic Hue (6) to hear the alternate chants echoing.
Footnotes:
(1) A Giao: A remote hamlet in Quang Tri province near the
Viet- Lao border. A bloody battle occurred there in 1966.
The North Vietnamese soldiers (bo doi) called it A Sau. In
some documents it was known as A Shau or A Shao.
(2) Cam Lo (Hill 37) has been a district of Quang Tri
province. From 1972 to 1975 the Headquarters of the
Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of
South Vietnam headed by Huynh Tan Phat was in Cam Lo.
(3) Khe Sanh (Ta Con) has been the district capital of Huong
Hoa district, Quang Tri province. It was famous for its
bloody battle lasting from January 21 to July 9 1968.
(4) The Ancient Citadel (Cổ Thành) was a fort in Quảng Trị
province built on the bank of the Thạch Hăn River in 1809.
(5) Hương Giang: River of Perfumes. It’s the scent of sweet
flag (called ‘bồ bồ’ or ‘thủy xương bồ’ by the Vietnamese)
of which the scientific name is Acorus alamus, Family:
Acoraceae.
(6) Huế was the Imperial Capital of Vietnam under the Nguyễn
Dynasty (1802- 1945).
NGÀY MAI TÔI VỀ
Hàn Châu (1947-
)
Mai đây tôi về
Bỏ lại sau lưng những hầm chông băi ḿn
Tôi hiên ngang trong niềm vui rộng lớn
Trả lại cho ai những địa danh qua hăi hùng
Mà người đời từng biết tên.
A Giao, Cam Lộ, Hạ Lào, Khe Sanh
Pháo nổ trên Cổ Thành
Xin vinh thăng những mộ xanh cỏ biếc
Có kẻ hôm qua đă ngủ quên trên chiến trường
Tuổi chiến trường dài hơn tuổi ḿnh.
Tôi xin đa tạ những người t́nh hôm nay
Đă biết thương anh lính trẻ đường dài
Xin đa tạ cuộc đời đă cho tôi thấy mặt bạn bè
Những người c̣n quanh tôi.
Mai đây không c̣n
Đạn nổ trên cao, xác gục trong chiến hào
Tôi ra đi đi từ Nam về Bắc
Ghé lại sông Hương thăm người thương thăm phố phường
Thăm Huế buồn vẳng nghe tiếng ḥ.
