"Ta muốn cưỡi cơn gió mạnh, đạp làn sóng dữ, chém cá tràng-kình ở Biển Đông, quét sạch bờ-cõi để cứu dân ra khỏi nơi đắm-đuối chứ không thèm bắt chước người đời cúi đầu, cong lưng làm tỳ-thiếp cho người ta"

** Triệu Thị Trinh **

 

“Old Love” and Phan Khôi (1887-1959)

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Figure 1: Phan Khôi

Phan Khôi was born in Quảng Nam, Central Vietnam. He was a student in traditional Sinitic- Vietnamese tradition (Hán Việt) until the age of 19, but also self-taught in modern Vietnamese quốc ngữ (using roman script). Under the influence of anti-colonial revolutionaries such as Phan Bộ Châu and Phan Châu Trinh, he became a political activist in different movements against the French and spent many years in prison. Afterwards, he was completely devoted to writing and journalism. In 1945, he came to Hanoi to work with the new Viet Minh regime, responsible for translating French and Chinese documents into Vietnamese. After 1951, he was among of the founders of the magazine “Nhân Văn”(Humanities,1956) containing articles critical of the communist government’s policies. He was then banned from literary activities. He died in Hanoi in 1959.


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Figure 2.

His famous poem “Old Love” (Tình già) first appeared in the supplement of the Vietnamese New Year issue of the magazine Đông tây (fig. 2) in Hanoi, followed by its publication in the 122 nd issue of the magazine Phụ Nữ Tân Văn (New Letters For Women), on 3-10-1932, with an introduction titled “A new form of poetry introduced to the community of poets.”(3) It is considered to be the first free style Vietnamese poem, unrestrained by rules of Tang era (618-903) Chinese poetry (“thơ Đường luật”). It is believed to be at the origin of the Vietnamese “new poetry” (thơ mới) movement of the 20 th century (2). According to one the poet’s sons, the famous poem was probably inspired by a real life platonic love story 24 years before. Young Phan Khôi was incarcerated for protesting colonial taxes, and his perfect calligraphy skills strongly impressed the warden’s young and beautiful wife. Out of prison, he met her again, but unlike in the poem, they did not have the chance to say a word; she died a few months later of illness. (1)

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Tình Già

Phan Khôi

Hai mươi bốn năm xưa, một đêm vừa gió lại vừa mưa.

Dưới ngọn đèn mờ, trong gian nhà nhỏ,

Hai mái đầu xanh kề nhau than thở: 

- Ôi đôi ta tình thương thì vẫn nặng,

Mà lấy nhau thì không đặng;

Ðể đến nỗi tình trước phụ sau,

Chi bằng sớm liệu mà buông nhau.

- Hay! Mới bạc làm sao chớ!

Buông nhau làm sao cho nỡ ?

Thương được chừng nào hay chừng nấy,

Chẳng qua ông trời bắt đôi ta phải vậy!

Ta là nhân ngãi, đâu phải vợ chồng,

Mà tính việc thủy chung?

Hai mươi bốn năm sau, tình cờ nơi đất khách gặp nhau

Ðôi cái đầu đều bạc.

Nếu chẳng quen lung, đố nhìn ra được!

Ôn chuyện cũ mà thôi.

Liếc đưa nhau đi rồi!

Con mắt còn có đuôi.

 

Old love

Twenty four years ago, one windy and rainy night,

Under the dim light, in a small apartment,

Two young souls huddled and lamented.

-       Alas, for the two of us, love is still profound,

But marriage is certainly impossible.

Deceit will follow love;

We ought to leave each other early now.

- Why! What ungrateful talk!

How can we have the hearts to leave each other?

We will love as long as we can;

It’s Heaven’s will that puts us in this predicament!

We are lovers, not spouses,

So why worry about a beginning and an end?

Twenty-four years later, by chance, we met on foreign land!

You and I had grayed,

Would we have recognized each other, had we not been so close?

Only recalling our old story.

Looking sidelong at each other as we parted,

Our eyes left their lingering wake.

(Translation by Hien V. Ho)

 

  1. Lại Nguyên Ân: Giải mã bí mật "Tình già" của Phan Khôi
  2. Trịnh Văn Thanh, Thành Ngữ Điển Tích Danh Nhân Tự Điển, Saigon, Xuân Thu Publisher, 1967
  3. “Một lối thơ mới trình chánh giữa làng thơ”

http://thethaovanhoa.vn/van-hoa-toan-canh/giai-ma-bi-mat-tinh-gia-cua-phan-khoi-n20120130102017204.htm

Hien V. Ho

9-08-2008

Edited 10-18-2013

(Photo no 3: Vietnamphotonet)