Waltz with Ky Tam Part Three

Can be found here

This excerpt is from lines 1371-1384 

At this point in the story, Ky Tam has decided that he will rescue Kieu from her oppressive imprisonment. They try to sneak off but Tu Ba is smart and easily gets wind of what he’s doing. She petitions the local authorities who recognize Kieu as merely a slave of Tu Ba, a prostitute. Ky Tam must “buy” her from Tu Ba which he gladly does. They then enjoy their time together and their love grows.

This is a high point in the story for Kieu. Finally, she has escaped her life as a prostitute and Ky Tam seems like a respectable man; a man that will take care of her. As I’ve mentioned several times before in this blog, this is not a happy tale and this is only about halfway through the story. Kieu’s luck will run out, quickly and drastically.

Late in the chilled evening,

They left her small bamboo abode,

For some fresh air, they told.

Hastily she was concealed,

Yet, those dark ones who dealed

With Tu Ba, hid among the trees.

They collected their fees

From her for this valuable news.

From’er mouth a torrent spews,

She wants gold! She needs compensation!

No equivocation,

Kieu was and is her property.

Anything less was robbery,

The ownership of Kieu’s body, soul,

Must be brought to tribunal.

Matters both public and private,

Both brought up for debate.

Before she knew it, she was stripped,

Her dignity torn and ripped.

Can be found here

-Finally, a place of their own

They laid and their love shown,

Their love...deep like the calm sea

Long as a river, free,

Imbibed with the sweet perfume,

Warm as a fire’s plume,

Lively like gems and jade,

Hearts with the lotus shade.

Waltz with Ky Tam: Part Two

Can be found here

This my second installment of Ky Tam and Kieu's first meeting. Ky Tam is trying to convince Kieu that his feelings are candid, but she is understandably wary.

She has been living as a prostitute for so long that she doesn't trust men at all anymore. Ky Tam isn't just another man showing his adoration for her. He is starting to crack her hardened emotional shell. 

Kieu is pretty consistent in her expressions of reluctance and Ky Tam is bewildered to why she could be reluctant. This exchange seems more like two different pleas, unheard to each participant. Kieu's lamentations are rooted in her lack of trust and agency. He is her ticket to freedom, but what kind of freedom exactly?

He doesn't understand why she doesn't just fall into his arms, but he has the humility to try to understand. He wants to know her soul.

Ky Tam does prove to be most sensitive of Kieu's lovers, but also the one with the weakest resolve. 

“I’ve come to realize,”

Kieu replied, “I know you well,

Your words are pearls, sea shells,

They weave together like soft silk,

Are they real? Will you bilk?

Are my unworthy verses enough?

My life has been sad, rough.

I cannot so easily trust you.

Yet, my heart feels askew,

As though it floats among the clouds.

But I feel in a shroud,

I shan’t answer you today young man,”

“Speak quite strangely you can,

That branch didn’t sprout from the roots here.”

He said. Her gaze was clear,

Sad eyes seeping with feminine grace,

 Joy, or Trust? Not a trace,

She was still soaking in despair.

“You are one without care,

Fluttering like a butterfly,

A pleasure-seeking guy.

I’d become one of those flowers

That fall from trees in showers.

My lord, do you not have a wife?

Why should I spend my life

In idle conversation with you?”

“You’ve triumphed in a coup

Of my heart, yet, if we’ll live as one,

In seriousness, not just fun,

I must know the source of this stream.”

He replied with esteem.

Waltz with Ky Tam: Part One

In the following excerpt Kieu will finally stop lamenting. She is still stuck in the brothel but now a new guy enters the picture. His name is Ky Tam, or Thuc Ky depending on how you want to read it. He is a patron of the brothel and is immediately smitten with her. Their love affair escalates quickly and neither one of them realizes just how serious the ramifications of it will turn out to be.

This is only part one, so stay tuned.

All of a sudden a fellow,

Bright-faced, came inside.

His name: Ky Tam. His style refined.

A native of Wuxi,

His voyage was thousands of li.

With his father he sought

To open a fine trading spot.

Kieu’s tender voice struck him,

Her beauty tore him, limb from limb.

Drawn by the scent of rose,

Sweet perfume, beckoned him close.

What charm! What a kind grace!

Smitten he was, now face-to-face.

He felt a loss for words,

A peach blossom hanging by cords,

She was a contradiction,

A Spring day with sun, rain, wind; a fiction.

The moon and a flower

Melt in each other’s power.

How can a man resist

On a Spring night such as this?

One ever-lasting string

Binds the two like queen and king.

A young peach, an old plum,

Their affection grew as it’d come,

Night time fun, moonlit trysts,

Became a sunlit kiss, that none could dismiss.