I HAD TO LET YOU GO | Lê Vĩnh Tài

like the waves upon the shore
a little boy had lost his shoes
running barefoot home
to his mother crying

I had to let you go
like the wings of a red-whiskered bulbul
dancing inside a cage (with the letter f)
singing a song of fertility

building a nest and laying not its eggs
but the eggs of a spotted dove
fully grown and totally blind
[blissfully sad hence blind]

I had to let you go
the way the abandoned cities
for a long time now – silent and lonely
people still left it behind
without ever looking back

I had to let you go
like a portrait of pain
drawn from the weeping of a wound
and lost – after a number of exhibits
to the astonishment of all
who set their eyes upon it

I had to let you go
like the memories kept in an exercise book
belonging to those who were always in love with no time for school
discoloured by the teardrops from all the first moments

I had to let you go
like an exasperated poet
staring at a terrible poem
try to remove = the unjustifiable theories
no one left as time passed by

– it all begins with the word, it all begins with the poet’s humanity
but human beings are often deceitful

I had to let you go – the rain falls, wets my clothes
a little boy looking for a place to hide from the rain
with his right hand wounded
left hand holding tightly onto a rose full of thorns
vũ thư hiên

I had to let you go, like a book
and its sad stories
forgotten, for such a long time = after reading them in one night

one more time, I had to let you go
like the most flawless of all poems
I ever written
all the memories I left behind
in my mind

if you decide to ever tie the knot
please don’t cut the tie
—
October 2023
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