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Poetry

A Bullet Fired into the Night

By Ngo Tu Lap
Translated from Vietnamese by Martha Collins & Ngo Tu Lap
Vietnamese poet Ngo Tu Lap records the extended impact of a fatal gunshot.

Like a falling leaf in a dream
Or an arm in a dream, dangling
A night flight, with eyes wide open
A June night, an astonished look
No one sees the vanished smile
The soldier’s dark face above the barrel
No one fears the barrel now—
An eel sniffing the mud

In a garden, banana leaves still catch dew
On tall bamboo, a nest of storks sleeps soundly
Only an ancient bat startles

In a closed house, a mother turns up her lamp
Not knowing she will be lonelier now
And a girl will sorrow in secret

No one knows he used to be a man
All summer long, crows will convene
In a row of bright green trees

 

Translation of “Vi’n đạn bắn vào đ’m đen.” Copyright Ngo Tu Lap. Translation copyright 2007 by Martha Collins and Ngo Tu Lap. All rights reserved.

English

Like a falling leaf in a dream
Or an arm in a dream, dangling
A night flight, with eyes wide open
A June night, an astonished look
No one sees the vanished smile
The soldier’s dark face above the barrel
No one fears the barrel now—
An eel sniffing the mud

In a garden, banana leaves still catch dew
On tall bamboo, a nest of storks sleeps soundly
Only an ancient bat startles

In a closed house, a mother turns up her lamp
Not knowing she will be lonelier now
And a girl will sorrow in secret

No one knows he used to be a man
All summer long, crows will convene
In a row of bright green trees

 

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