Kieu's Lament: Chock Full of Allusions

This passage is from lines 1251-1264. It is a relatively short passage compared to what I normally translate, but it is rich with metaphorical language. If may seem a bit cryptic upon first reading, but if you parse through the allusions then you’ll see that the message is pretty straight forward. I’ve included a few explanatory notes at the end.

Can be found here

                Kieu has already become fully acclimated with her life as a prostitute and she feels her spirit being hollowed out. At this point in the story she is lamenting the fact that she can’t provide for her parents, and that the love of her life may have forgotten about her or she may not be worthy of him anymore. This passage, along with the few dozen lines that precede it, are basically a preamble to her meeting her next lover, Ky Tam,  which I will translate eventually.

Feelings within her heart

That seemed so far removed

Within her found a groove,

The pain was hardly bearable,

Tangled and terrible:

“I miss those who I owe nine debts,*

Day by day the sun sets,

Slanting behind mulberry trees.*

Home is across the seas,

Far away and out of my reach,

Which god’s law did I breach?

How could my destiny be this?

The sopohoras’re amiss, *

Naive, too young, and immature

Van Gogh's Mulberry Tree
Can be found here

To provide, to insure

Our parents a comfortable life.

In spite of my trying strife,

I hath not forgotten my pledge

Of three lifetimes. This wedge

Of vast distance ‘tween him and I...

Has he just said goodbye?

He’ll come to find the willow’s branch

Was given for a tranche*

Of mere silver and golden coin.

Can our love ever join?

Will that flower ever bloom

On this branch, in this womb?

*The “nine debts” that she is referring to here are toward her parents. In Vietnamese they consist of sinh (birth), cúc (nourishment/support), phủ (comfort), súc (rearing), trưởng (≈growing up), dục (education), cố (keep safe), phục (teach about respect), and phúc (happiness). The concept of “nine debts” comes from Confucian tradition and comes from the 202^nd poem of the Book of Odes. It’s important to keep in mind that Confucius did not write the Book of Odes; he only compiled and supposedly edited it.

I discovered my old copy of Ezra Pound’s translation of the Book of Odes and found the poem in question. It is titled “The Orphan” and details the despair of an orphan who has no familial support whatsoever. Here is a telling excerpt:

Weed or plant that gives no grain,

you two begat me in toil and pain,

Shamed the jug that fills no cup;

orphan’s life, proverb saith,

is worth less than early death.

Who sustaineth the fatherless?

Who stayeth the motherless?

Carry gagged grief beyond the court-yard wall,

In my house there is no one at all.

          It is a very gloomy poem. Confucius probably used it because it exemplifies why children with parents should be grateful. We can assume that Confucius codified the exact “nine debts” that we should be so concerned about.

*The reference to “mulberry trees” comes from Chiense proverbial sayings, mainly about patience. Mulberry trees are used to nourish silk worms and thus were very valuable. The image of the sun setting behind mulberry trees signifies the end of life. She is lamenting that while she is away in servitude her parent’s may be passing away.

Sophora Tree
Can be found here

*The mention of sophora trees harks back to an old story from Song Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.). The story was that a fellow named Wang Hu planted three sophora trees in his garden, one for each of his sons. The trees were meant to give his sons good luck. The metaphor is that if the “sophora trees” are growing well then the children of the family are successful and supporting their parents. In Kieu’s case her other sisters are still too young to support the family, and so she has anxiety that her parents are not being properly cared for.

Can be found here

*The willow’s branch refers to an old poem from the Tang Dynasty (618-906 A.D.) about a man who leaves his courtesan at home while he is out on a military campaign. His courtesan was named “Miss Willow” and lived on a street called Chang Terrace. On his return journey he wrote a poem addressed to her that included the line: “O Chang Terrace Willow/ Are you still fresh and green as you once were?” It turned out that she was already abducted by another general by the time he returned.

                Kieu is alluding to this because she has already given up her chastity and slept with so many men. Her purity, “willow’s branch”, was handed to other men for money. She is of course ashamed of this.