Truyện Kiều – The Tale of Kieu (Verses 1020-1055)

Truyện Kiều (Câu 1020-1055)

Nguyễn Du

1020.
Làm chi thêm một nợ chồng kiếp sau?
Lặng nghe ngẫm nghĩ gót đầu,
Thưa rằng: “Ai có muốn đâu thế này
Được như lời thế là may,
Hẳn rằng mai có như rày cho chăng?

1025.
Sợ khi ong bướm đãi đằng,
Đến điều sống đục, sao bằng thác trong!
Mụ rằng: “Con hãy thong dong,
Phải điều lòng lại dối lòng mà chơi?
Mai sau ở chẳng như lời,

1030.
Trên đầu có bóng mặt trời rạng soi.
Thấy lời quyết đoán hẳn hoi,
Đành lòng nàng cũng sẽ nguôi nguôi dần.
Trước lầu Ngưng bích khóa xuân,
Vẻ non xa, tấm trăng gần ở chung.

1035.
Bốn bề bát ngát xa trông,
Cát vàng cồn nọ, bụi hồng dặm kia.
Bẽ bàng mây sớm đèn khuya,
Nửa tình nửa cảnh như chia tấm lòng.
Tưởng người dưới nguyệt chén đồng,

1040.
Tin sương luống hãy rày mong mai chờ.
Bên trời góc bể bơ vơ,
Tấm son gột rửa bao giờ cho phai.
Xót người tựa cửa hôm mai,
Quạt nồng ấp lạnh những ai đó giờ?

1045.
Sân Lai cách mấy nắng mưa,
Có khi gốc tử đã vừa người ôm.
Buồn trông cửa bể gần hôm,
Thuyền ai thấp thoáng cánh buồm xa xa.
Buồn trông ngọn nước mới sa,

1050.
Hoa trôi man mác, biết là về đâu?
Buồn trông nội cỏ dầu dầu,
Chân mây mặt đất một màu xanh xanh.
Buồn trông gió cuốn mặt duềnh,
Ầm ầm tiếng sóng kêu quanh ghế ngồi.

(English Version)

The Tale of Kieu (Verses 1020-1055)

Author: Nguyễn Du
Translation: Đặng Hoàng Lan

1020. They surely will have to pay more greatly in the next,
So, she listened pensively to all the words uttered by Tu.
Then she responded politely, “No one would like to war,
Your idea is acceptable if it is lucky and all goes as you plan,
But later on what can I do if you have tricked me again?

1025. I feel disgusted to think of mixing bees and butterflies.
I would rather die standing in dung than lying in mud!”
Her keeper tried to sound comforting, “Ease your mind dear one,
My plan is sincere, I don’t scheme to deceive you” she cooed.
“The sun shining down on us now stands as a witness,

1030. Binding my word as stone in this agreement I make with you today.”
With every word she seemed to be serious and trustworthy.
Though she felt quite unsettled, Kieu began to calm herself.
In the suite called Ngung Bich she secluded herself.
None but the distant mountain and the near moon accompanied her

1035. As she cast her eyes about the immense sky, shimmering,
Visible to her was yellow sand and a sprinkling of pink stardust.
She saw both the early clouds and the late sparks in contrast,
And it was like her heart, divided in half by scenery and nostalgia.
She thought of the one she had shared wine in the moonlight with.

1040. She was aware that he waited, still, for news from her,
But she is alone in this remote land, and he waits in vain.
Her devotion to him has yet to waiver or pale.
Her sorrow was deep as she thought of her parents’ suffering.
It was unbearable to wonder who takes care of them this cold night.

1045. She thought of the young catalpa tree, standing in the yard.
Surely it is wide enough to embrace after so much rain and shine.
She watched the harbor in gray dusk, melancholy.
Who owned the silent boats with fluttering sails, she wondered.
She quietly watched the river flow to sea.

1050.
Where would this flower, adrift, find herself in the end?
Forlorn, she took in the fields of grass, they were wilted now.
Where merged the earth and clouds, all was bluish, like a bruise.
The wind was whipping the waves, roaring, beating the shore.
She felt as the rocks in the cove, like she was being beaten, too.