should I mourn you
before you are dead, sing
perform for you
a composition
a requiem of your middle ages
a marriage
beyond your fingertips
sips of love, broken joy
no ploy
take
what isn’t yours
should I mourn you
before you are dead, cry
demand
your resurrection
your Easter
a new life
beyond your fingertips
sips of love, broken joy
no ploy
take
what isn’t yours
should I mourn you
before you are dead, weep
cry for you
demand your escape
from a cage
the freedom
beyond your entombment
sips of love, broken joy
no ploy
take
what isn’t yours
should I mourn you
before you are dead, laugh
pity
your entombment
a bejeweled castle
of your own making
beyond your fingertips
silent birdsongs, broken joys
no ploy
take
what isn’t yours
should I mourn you
before you are dead, be silent
stifle the cry
the anguish
your own entombment
the freedom
beyond your fingertips
sips of love, broken joy
no ploy
take
what isn’t yours
no, I will not mourn
I will not cry
strangers,
like ships in the night?
your entombment
yours alone
not mine.
I get it
a watery grave is better than a cage.
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the blogger, poet, and translator, was born in 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm 
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