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.
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| 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
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| 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 202nd 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
