From Nguyễn Tất Nhiên’s debut collection
Thiên Tai (Acts of God)
(Biên Hòa: published by the author, 1970)

 

 

 

Character Sketch

 

I don’t have enough patience to finish reading a novel
Since a novel shouldn’t be read quickly
You don’t have enough patience to love me
Since I’m more boring than a novel
I’m a dramatic script
That goes on forever.

 

 

 

 

First Fatigue Song

 

1.

Young love, don’t you think, is very exciting
Its practice in any form is endearing
In childhood a child looks in a mirror,
Surprised, in love with himself, of course.

Young love, don’t you think, is very strange
Its practice in any form is awkward
In childhood a child clings to his life saver
Scared and choked by water, of course.

 

2.

I have a sail that brings me to the land of the past
You hold a seat that seems forgetful as clouds.

 

3.

While dust and sand can at times disperse
They will settle, become fertilizer for trees
As always I must love myself
(My selfishness is born of tragic failures.)

At fifteen among school boys and girls
It’s clear who is the slower, dumber sex
As always I must love myself
(My selfishness is born of repeated humiliations.)

 

4.

You have a life like green moss yearning for stone
I have a thousand years of drunken recriminations

 

5.

Young love, don’t you think, is very fragile
Its practice in any form is prone to ruins
In childhood one eats with mismatched chopsticks
that tip over a rice bowl, so it breaks, of course.

 

6.

When exhausted, sensing my life’s ups and downs
More than ever I so love myself.

 

 

 

Articles by Nguyễn Tất Nhiên

• priest / linh mục - 27.08.2012
• DUYÊN Của Tình Ta Con Gái Bắc/ Oanh/ Hai Hàng Me Ở Đường Gia Long - 31.05.2007