(from the Vietnamese original “Chờ Đợi”)
memories were lost
I forgot today is Monday
I’ve been waiting for this day, so to say,
for chance to see a painting, view a few poems
watch a dance on TV, danced by a girl whom I never liked, really
yet she dances well
I used to wait for Mondays
like I did for Sundays
to walk down the street, to join a protest
a performance by my friends
or simply to take photographs around the Starlight Bridge
I waited for this Monday like the previous one
until it turned to Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, now
perhaps I am waiting for another time
time marked by the birthday of a friend, yesterday
a friend asked me to come or she would die
on her sick bed in the late evening with the paper cranes no longer in their flight
perhaps she was waiting like me I was waiting
if she died if I unknowingly came would I know that was Monday or a day I had
her on a date
I waited for me myself yesterday
down the road beside the idle mangoes on Lane 47
I waited for me to come but I did not do a thing
some words in the empty afternoon
floating by with me
I waited for yesterday like I did for a memory
a remembrance, a longing, a vain hope that would come, I waited for many many days
which passed me by
I waited for a thing I was no longer aware of
It went, it arrived, or it’s yet to come
for what
I will again wait for tomorrow
a new painting
or old, dances of unknown steps
or poems that I never read . . .
(00:49 28.06.2011)
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