The
shadows on the train station platform
by Nguyen
Binh
It is the place where
all the separation would start
Breaking the strings
of the union guitar, breaking one’s heart
With all the superficial
wishing, signaling the beginning of loneliness
The commotion would
appear day by day, which seems endless
Once I saw the scene
of the two girls that was so touching
They stood close
by, cheek to cheek, tearfully sobbing
Their two shadows
combined into one lone shadow
- Sister, you probably
have a long way back to go
Once on the platform
appeared probably a passionate lover
Who came in the
afternoon to bid farewell to her lover
They saw each other
off at a remote, lonely station
With hand in hand,
their shadows were joined in inclination
Another time I witnessed
the farewell meeting of the two friends
One was standing
on the platform, the other at the train’s end
They urged each
other to go three or four times
While their shadows
vanished in the day that had already died
Once I saw a country
couple in the very late afternoon
Who shyly said good-bye
while their shadows already spread in full
She reluctantly
opened the package of areca nuts but he stopped her
- Honey, please
go back and feed our feeble mother, please, my lover!
Once I met a lady
whose hair had already turned gray
Who came to see
her beloved son depart to a place so far away
The train had long
departed but she remained standing motionless
Her bent shadow
stood silently on the platform in emptiness
Once I met a loner,
who perhaps was a frequent traveler
Who seemed not knowing
where to go, or to have to think it over
With his nonchalant,
lonely walk, he was the one who could do
By himself, the
farewell bidding which ought to be done by two
It’s where one
can see colourful handkerchiefs flying, tears in sobbing
And where many hands
upon many hands continue waving
There are many pairs
of wet eyes looking at others in dampness
Yes this is the
place which would rank first in terms of sadness
Many times I have
waited for the buses incoming and outgoing
Have received the
people or seen them off in many of my waiting
Why, why are there
those platforms and those train stations?
They just are there,
a symbol of sadness, to imprint the seal of separation
Translated from Vietnamese
into English
by Hương Cau Thomas
TN Cao
on 14 May 2019 in
British Columbia, Canada
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