The Soul of Poetry Inside Kim-Van-Kieu

By Thuy Lexuan

Kim-Van-Kieu, for centuries, has been regarded by the Vietnamese as the most beautiful jewel in painting the sentimental tenderness of the human soul.
Edited in the early 1813s, this masterpiece of 3250 verses was structured in a particular form of prosody that has become since then a cherished anthem of Vietnamese poetry.
The story concerns a maiden endowed with mental and bodily graces; an elite who, placed between love and filial devotion, deliberately chose the harder way: she sold herself to save her father, a victim of an unjust calamity. And from that day on, she passed from one misfortune to another until she sank into the most abject depravity. But, like the lotus, after a long chain of stormy winds, she succeeded in elevating herself and preserving the pure perfume of her original soul.

Homesickness seemed to carry away
Her soul toward the forlorn clouds of Tsin.
My poor old parents! Both now must be quite old!
Since my departure, has their grievance
Subsided any as time went by?
So fast, more than ten years out of sight!
If they still live, maybe their skin
Has been wrinkled, and their hair has turned gray
Like frost-covered as it had never been!
And the old love! Regretful, I may say!
Like the lotus torn off from its stem,
Though their former binding had been broken,
The feelings Kieu had conceived for Kim
Seemed to still have a slight venation.

Kim-Van-Kieu 1963 Edition, English translation by Professor Le-Xuan-Thuy, had given the Western readers a chance to taste the delights of a new style of poem-in-prose version of Vietnamese poetry into English.
Forty six years later came into light a fresher gem with a more inspired form, The Soul of Poetry inside Kim-Van-Kieu, a vibrant versification of Kim-Van-Kieu by Professor Le Xuan Thuy himself, well known online as international poet Hall-of-Fame Thuy Lexuan, ASO.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 17, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452099996

Thuy Lexuan

Professor Le-Xuan-Thuy’s careers in Vietnam fluctuated from a portraitist and poet-singer-songwriter to a translator of Kim-Van-Kieu, the most famous masterpiece of Vietnamese poetry; from a specialist in national education and writer of textbooks to a Financial Control Systems University professor-consultant; in USA, from a Financial Control Systems developer to a writer of a series of highly spiritual materials; and then, after retirement, to an international poet Hall-of-Fame well-known on Website as Thuy Lexuan, ASO. His poetry, regarded as the most comprehensive, primarily illustrated as individual poems in anthologies published by Poetry.Com, USA and Noble House, UK, came into much brighter light with two new poetical ethoses: The Poetry of the Omni and The Soul of Poetry inside Kim Van Kieu, the versification of his own poem-in-prose Kim-Van-Kieu 1963 Edition. For more information about author-poet Thuy Lexuan, just go to Google site and type “OmniRealm”.

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Contents

I N T R O D U C T I O N

CHARACTERS INSIDE KIM-VÂN -KIỀU

KIM-VÂN-KIỀU

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY- SEVEN

EPILOGUE

I N T R O D U C T I O N

~~~~~

Kim-Vân-Kiều, for centuries, has been regarded by the Vietnamese as one of the most beautiful jewels in painting the sentimental tenderness of the human soul.

Edited in the early 1813’s, this masterpiece of 3250 verses was structured in a particular form of prosody that has become since then a cherished anthem of Vietnamese poetry.

Though the drama was originated from a popular Chinese novel, like Corneille’s Le Cid of Guilhem de Castro, the author, Nguyễn-Du, knew how to insert in his work the qualities that did not exist in the original text. He succeeded in transforming a picaresque and verbose intrigue into a long and picturesque literary work viewed as the most elaborated poetry ever written in Vietnamese in olden days. The story concerns a maiden endowed with mental and bodily graces; an elite who, placed between love and filial devotion, deliberately chose the harder way: she sold herself to save her father, a victim of an unjust calamity. From that day on, she passed from one misfortune to another until she sank into the most abject depravity. But, like the lotus, after a long chain of stormy winds, she succeeded in elevating herself and preserving the pure perfume of her original soul.

Kim-Vân-Kiều has an esoteric value that reveals the author’s spiritual background, both in astral occult science and in prophecy. The soul of poetry in a few excerpts illustrated herein below shows how the author spread his poetic waves inside diverse events of metaphysical nature predicted by a prophetess:

"Fortune or misfortune,

"It’s prescribed by the laws of Heaven.

"Its source, however, comes from our beings.

"In renunciation happiness can be found,

"For passions lead only to sufferings..

"Thúy-Kieu, though wise and clever,

"And bound by a rosy-cheek-girl plight,

"Has herself remained quite too long

"Attached to her passions in her ride.

"This was why she could not live safely

"Whenever she found a leisure shelter,

"And could not stay there peacefully.

"Then, under the influence of demons

"And evil spirits, she stepped out again,

"On the road to places of misery.

"Misfortunes would strike, as relevant,

"Forcing her to live twice in the blue houses,

"And wear twice the blue clothes of a servant.

"She would live, in certain surroundings

"Of uplifted spears and unsheathed swords,

"With her back leaned against skins, wolf or tiger,

"And then in servitude because of her words.

"As for her passions, this would occur:

"She would dive into a rapid current

"And swelling waves, like a fish offering

"Itself to dragon jaws waiting in silence.

"This would occur soon because of her passions.

"And she would be the only person to suffer,

"And to decide what would happen to her.

"She still will be condemned to suffer

"Martyrdom and die like an exile.

"Her misery will end when this life is over.

"Examine the karma of Thúy-Kiều carefully:

"Though deeply caught in the trap of passions,

"She kept herself out of lusts and debauchery.

"She paid a debt of profound gratitude

"Through her good sentimental attitude.

"And Heaven was stirred by her fidelity

"To pity her when she sold her body.

"Harming a person, rescuing another,

"This shows she knew how to come along

"With what should be done before going further,

"And how to discriminate right from wrong.

"Such merits are peerless, both within and without,

"And her previous sins have been washed out.

"Giác-Duyên, if you really still remember

"Your friendship for that pitiful woman,

"Go immediately to the Chientang river

"And launch a reed float to welcome her.

"What I’ve just told you would surely happen.

"In all of our destinies, isn’t this a part

Of the many fortunes granted by Heaven?

And the realization of the above prophecy by a spirit on the Astral Plane:

"For more than ten years,

"I’ve been staying around here, in wait as due.

"How come, Sister, that such cruel destiny

"Is for you, a person of so great virtues?

"Whatever your previous life might be,

"To find another heart like yours is not easy!

"The perfume of your faith has reached Heaven.

"Selling yourself is filial devotion;

"Saving another person is altruism.

"You’ve worked for the good of your country,

"As well as for your people in good faith.

"All those merits begin, astrally,

"To weigh one ounce heavier than your fate.

"As your name has already been checked off

"The register of those who live in misery,

"It’s my direct duty to return to you

"These torn-bowels poems you wrote previously.

"From now on, for you, will be long happy years,

"And the fulfillment of your past compliance

Will guarantee your future abundance.

Kim-Vân-Kiều, besides its literary and esoteric values, has a psychological one that reveals the author’s personality. In this rare brocade, every passage is superbly written and expressed with the utmost nobility of his individual self. Even in the most scabrous passages, plain realism is avoided. His muse is never coarse. Its niceties conceal certain gross passages that are depicted so skillfully that they never offend the reader. Even the choice of metaphors and paraphrases, resorted to so as to avoid any transgression of the rules of decency, denotes in itself an instinctive and constant care and respect for others. Nguyễn-Du was successful in his objective. So far, there has been no Vietnamese not deeply affected by the verses of Kim-Vân-Kiều, the echo thereof seems to flow like waves of deep emotion that gathers love in his/her heart, a love so strong that it appears to become a strange passion attached to the reader.

How happy the writer who could, in one poem, make the whole soul of his race vibrate and sing!

For eons to come, under the dear Vietnamese roofs as well as under the dear foreign ones, during sweet hours of lovely nights under the lamplight, white-haired readers as well as young dreaming ones will still read the various adventures ofThúy-Kiều with much more curiosity and moving fervor.

Thủy Lêxuân, ASO

CHARACTERS INSIDE KIM-VÂN -KIỀU

~~~~~

KIM-TRỌNG (Kim)          A young scholar, Kiều’s fiancé

THÚY-KIỀU (Kiều)          The elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Vương

THÚY-VÂN (Vân)          The second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Vương

Mr. and Mrs. VƯƠNG          The parents of Kiều, Vân, and Vương-Quan

VƯƠNG-QUAN (Quan)          The son of Mr. and Mrs. Vương

ĐẠM-TIÊN          A dead singer

Mr. CHUNG          A secretary of the yamen

MÃ-GIÁM-SINH          Kiều's first husband

TÚ-BÀ          A madam, Mã-Giám- Sinh's partner

SỞ-KHANH          An adventurer and accomplice of Tú-Bà

MÃ - KIỀU          A mate in misery of Kiều

THÚC-KỲ-TÂM          Kiều's second husband

Old THÚC          Thúc’s father The Magistrate of Weihsien

HOẠN-THƯ          Thúc’s legitimate wife

Mrs. HOẠN          Hoạn-Thư’s mother

KHUYỂN and ƯNG          Two domestics of the Hoạn family

HOA-NÔ (Slave-Flower)          Kiều’s servant name

The Old Governess of the Hoạn Family

TRẠC-TUYỀN          Kiều’s religious name

XUÂN and THU          Two servants of the Hoạn family

GIÁC-DUYÊN          A bonzess

BẠC-BÀ          A panderess

BẠC-HẠNH          Kiều’s third husband, Bạc-Bà’s nephew

TAM-HỢP          A bonzess and prophetess

TỪ-HẢI          Kiều’s fourth husband, A soldier of fortune

HỒ-TÔN-HIẾN          An imperial envoy

Mr. ĐỖ          A secretary of the Yamen of Weihsien

missing image file

KIM-VÂN-KIỀU

~~~~~~

Trǎm nǎm trong cõi người ta,

Chữ tài, chữ mệnh, khéo là ghét nhau.

Trải qua một cuộc bể dâu,

Những điều trông thấy mà đau đớn lòng;

Lạ gì bỉ sắc tư phong,

Trời xanh quen thόi má hồng đánh ghen.

Within a span of one hundred years

Of human life and tragedy,

What a bitter struggle is waged

Between talent and destiny!

How many harrowing events

Had occurred while fields of mulberries

Covered the shores of the conquered seas![1]

Rich in beauty, unlucky in life![2]

Strange indeed! But little wonder,

Since casting hatred upon rosy cheeks[3]

Is a habit of the Blue Sky.

I

Cảo thơm lần giở trước đèn,

Phong tình cổ lục còn truyền xử-xanh,

Rằng: nǎm Gia-tĩnh triều Minh,

Bốn phương phẳng-lặng, hai Kinh vững-vàng.

Cό nhà viên-ngoại họ Vương,

Gia-tư nghĩ cũng thường thường bậc trung.

Một trai con thứ rốt lòng,

Vương-Quan là chữ, nối dòng nho-gia.

Đầu lòng hai ả tố-nga,

Thúy-Kiều là chị, em là Thúy-Vân.

Mai cốt-cách, tuyết tinh-thần,

CHAPTER ONE

The Vương Family

Fragrant manuscripts[4], turned open before a lamp,

And tablets of gallant old anthologies

Relate: In the period of Kia-Tsing,[5]

Inside one of the two capital cities,

Under the dynasty of the Ming,

When peace reigned throughout the nation,

There was a family of a notable

Named Vương of modest and average station.

The youngest of their children was a son,

Vương -Quan, a progeny of literati.

And two daughters, Thúy-Kiều, and Thúy-Vân,

Famous for their heavenly beauty.

Both were as slender as apricot-trees,

Mỗi người một vẻ, mười phân vẹn mười.

Vân xem trang-trọng khác vời,

Khuôn trǎng đầy-đặn, nét ngài nở-nang.

Hoa cười, ngọc thốt đoan trang,

Mây thua nước tόc, tuyết nhường mầu da.

Kiều càng sắc-sảo mặn mà,

So bề tài-sắc, lại là phần hơn.

Làn thu-thủy, nét xuân-sơn,

Hoa ghen thua thắm, liễu hờn kém xanh.

Một hai nghiêng nước, nghiêng thành,

Sắc đành đòi một, tài đành họa hai.

Thông-minh vốn sẵn tính trời,

Pha nghề thi họa, đủ mùi ca ngâm.

dia.jpg

As pure as snow, and diverse in their harmonies.

Vân’s moon-face[6] and chiefly her brows,

Alike two fully unrolled silkworms,

Gave her an imposing beauty;

Her smile, similar to a blooming flower,

And her voice of jade were very comely.

What were clouds in comparison

To her hair, and snow to her complexion?

But Kiều exceeded her younger sister

In grace and talents; her charming

Eyes looked like two gentle autumn waves,

And the bow of her brows, a mount in spring.

Flowers envied for her brilliance,

And willows shivered for not being so verdant.

She could, with one single sidelong glance,

Put empires and cities in revolution.

In addition to all the above, intelligence

Came to her as a natural endowment.

Kiều, not only fond of poetry and painting,

Was also versed in music and verse singing.

Cung, thương, lầu bậc ngũ-âm,

Nghề riêng ǎn đứt hồ-cầm một trương.

Khúc nhà tay lựa nên chương.

Một thiên bạc-mệnh lại càng não nhân.

Phong-lưu rất mực hồng-quần,

Xuân-xanh xấp-xỉ tới tuần cập-kê.

Êm-đềm trướng rủ màn che,

Tường đông ong bướm đi về mặc ai.

dia.jpg

A good master of the Cung-Thương scale,[7]

She excelled in the Hồ guitar[8] and, chiefly,

By using a few familiar tunes,

Was able to write down a nice melody.

The Cruel Fate, one of her romances,

Was so sad that it could move one to tears.

A flower among those who wore red trousers,[9]

Kiều reached the first pin[10] of her vernal years.

Behind closed hangings and discreet curtains,

She lived peacefully, far from the calls

Of loafing bees and butterflies[11]

On the other side of the East walls.

II

Ngày xuân con én đưa thoi,

Thiều-quang chín chục đã ngoài sáu mươi.

Cỏ non xanh tận chân trời,

Cành lê trang điểm một vài bông hoa.

Thanh-minh, trong tiết tháng ba,

Lễ là Tảo-mộ, hội là Đạp-thanh.

Gần xa nô-nức yến anh,

Chị em sắm-sửa bộ hành chơi xuân

Dập-dìu tài-tử, giai nhân,

CHAPTER TWO

The Tomb of Đạm-Tiên

Spring, alike swallows darting their shuttles[12],

Of ninety days of light, sixty had gone by.

Green grass began spreading far to the horizon,

And boughs of pear-trees also started beeing white

With a few scarce flowers and buttons.

It was the ‘Pure Light,’[13] in the third month.

People came, like orioles and swallows,[14]

From near and far for the tomb-rite

And for their first steps on grass in sight.

Vương-Quan and his sisters, not lingering,

Also dressed up for a spring outing.

Elegant gentlemen and beautiful women

Ngựa xe như nước, áo quần như nêm.

Ngổn-ngang gò đống kéo lên,

Thoi vàng vό rắc, tro tiền giấy bay.

Tà-tà bόng ngả về tây,

Chị em thơ-thẩn dan tay ra về.

Bước lần theo ngọn tiểu khê,

Lần xem phong-cảnh cό bề thanh-thanh,

Nao-nao dòng nước uốn quanh,

Dịp cầu nho-nhỏ cuối ghềnh bắc ngang.

Sè-sè nấm đất bên đường,

Dầu-dầu ngọn cỏ, nửa vàng nửa xanh.

Rằng: "Sao trong tiết Thanh-minh,

Mà đây hương khόi vắng tanh thế mà?

Vương-Quan mới dẫn gần xa:

dia.jpg

Were everywhere, strolling side by side

As they mingled the waves of their garments

With endless flows of horses and vehicles.

Ritual ingots[15] lay strewn all around

Pell-mell knolls and hillocks, low and high.

Overhead, ashes from burnt joss papers

Went on soaring and flying in the sky.

When the sun declined in the West,

Quan and his sisters were still, hand in hand,

Lounging back along a rivulet,

And over the sweet scenery of the land.

Down far ahead was a narrow bridge

Spanning a purling brook of meandering dance;

And before them, on a side of the road,

Covered with green and yellow weeds,

Was an earth grave of neglected mode.

What! Kiều exclaimed. "No incense, no smoke,

Here, on this very day of Pure Light?

missing image file

"Đạm-Tiên nàng ấy xưa là ca-nhi,

"Nổi danh tài sắc một thì,

Xôn-xao ngoài cửa, hiếm gì yến anh,

"Phận hồng-nhan cό mong-manh,

"Nửa chừng xuân, thoắt gẫy cành thiên-hương.

"Cό người khách ở viễn phương,

"Xa nghe cũng nức tiếng nàng tìm chơi.

"Thuyền tình vừa ghé đến nơi,

Thì đà trâm gãy bình rơi bao giờ!

"Buồng không lạnh ngắt như tờ,

"Dấu xe ngựa đã rêu lờ-mờ xanh.

Khόc than khôn xiết sự tình,

"Khéo vô duyên bấy là mình với ta!

"Đã không duyên trước chǎng mà,

dia.jpg

Đạm-Tiên, the woman who is resting at this side,

Vương-Quan traced back to a past event,

"Was a singer, and was formerly

"Famous for both her talent and beauty.

"The front door of her house was crowded with flows

"Of reveling orioles and swallows.

"The fate of that rosy face, however,

"Was nothing but a frail outer link:

"The branch, which carried the divine perfume,

"Suddenly broke in the prime of her spring.

"A foreigner from a remote country,

"When hearing about her fame, far and wide,

"Came for her talents and beauty, instantly

"Right after his love boat came alongside.

"But the pin had broken and the vase fallen.

"He found nothing, only an empty room

"With frigid and dismal silence,

"And ruts left by horses and vehicles

"Covered with greenish moss as evidence.

"He could not help weeping out his sorrow:

"‘Destiny does not want us to live together!

"‘A small token will be for our future union

"’Even now we’re not bound for each other!’

"Thì chi chút uớc gọi là duyên sau.

"Sắm-sanh nếp tử, xe châu,

"Vùi nông một nấm, mặc dầu cỏ hoa.

"Trải bao thỏ lặn, ác tà,

Ấy mồ vô chủ, ai mà viếng thǎm!

Lòng đâu sẵn mόn thương tâm,

Thoạt nghe Kiều đã đầm-đầm châu sa:

Đau-đớn thay, phận đàn-bà!

"Lời rằng bạc-mệnh cũng là lời chung.

"Phũ-phàng chi bấy Hόa-công!

"Ngày xanh mòn-mỏi, má hồng phôi-pha.

"Sống làm vợ khắp nguời ta,

"Hại thay! Thác xuống làm ma không chồng!

"Nào người phượng chạ, loan chung

dia.jpg

"He had a catalpa coffin, a pearl hearse,

"And a discreet burial prepared for her.

"Weeds and wild flowers would follow,

"Not very long to overgrow the barrow.

"Since then, how many times the Lunar Rabbit [16]

"Has set and the Solar Crow[17] has bowed down!

"This is only an abandoned tomb

Which, thus far, no one has come to visit.

What a queer heart! Just listening to the story

Was enough to cause tears to fill

Kiều’s eyes and to flow down pearly.

"This woman’s life, what a painful destiny!

"Speaking of ill fate is speaking of us all!

"Why did you, Creator, treat her so cruelly?

"Why did you make this green singer

"Waste away and her rosy cheeks wither?

"When alive, she was the wife of everyone,

"Now, she is a phantom without a husband!

"Where is her former true would-be lover,

Nào người tích lục, tham hồng là ai?

"Đã không kẻ đoái, người hoài,

"Sẵn đây ta kiếm một vài nén hương.

"Gọi là gặp-gỡ giữa đường,

Họa là người dưới suối vàng biết cho.

Lâm-dâm khấn-khứa nhỏ to,

Sụp ngồi, đặt cỏ trước mồ, bước ra.

Một vùng cỏ áy, bόng tà,

Giό hiu-hiu thổi một và bông lau.

Rút trâm sẵn giắt mái đầu,

Vạch da cây, vịnh bốn câu ba vần.

Lại càng mê-mẩn tâm-thần,

Lại càng đứng lặng tần-ngần chẳng ra.

dia.jpg

"The phœnix who had shared the same cover?

"Where are the wooers of her green savvy,

"Those who lusted after her rosy beauty?

"Since no one cares for her, for her mourning,

"Let me burn a few joss sticks we still have,

"In witness of this accidental meeting.

"Maybe you’ll see my gesture,

You who are now under the Yellow Spring.[18]

Kiều murmured an invocation, stooped

And then stepped backward after laying

Some grass right in front of the grave.

The sunlight was now declining

Over the whole corner of poor weeds

As a breeze softly shook a few reeds.

Drawing out a pin stuck in her hair,

Kiều briefly traced a three-rhyme quatrain

On the bark of a nearby tree.

Then, absorbed in a deep reverie,

She stood there, without a further move,

As if lost in a strange blurry sea.

Sorrow changed her charming features,

Lại càng ủ-dột nét hoa,

Sầu tuôn dứt nối, châu xa vắn dài!

Vân rằng: "Chị cũng nực cười,

Khéo dư nước mắt, khόc người đời xưa!

Rằng: "Hồng-nhan tự nghìn xưa,

"Cái điều bạc-mệnh cό chừa ai đâu.

"Nỗi-niềm tưởng đến mà đau,

Thấy nguời nằm đό, biết sau thế nào?

Quan rằng: "Chị nόi hay sao,

"Mỗi lời là một vận vào khό nghe!

"Ở đây âm khí nặng nề,

Bόng chiều đã ngả, dặm về còn xa.

Kiều rằng: "Những đấng tài-hoa,

"Thác là thể-phách, còn là tinh-anh.

Dễ hay tình lại gặp tình,

Chờ xem, ắt thấy hiển-linh bây giờ.

dia.jpg

And pearly tears flowed down freely.

What a strange thing to shed your extra tears,

Vân exclaimed, over a person of bygone years!

For millenniums, replied Kiều dolefully,

"This cruel fate has spared no rosy face!

"This thought tortures my heart, and truly

"I’m musing on the one resting there.

Who knows what will become of me?

What you said, Quan cut in, has no sense!

"It hurts me, when you applied it to yourself.

"Here, the air from the graves is heavy.

"It has already declined, the sunlight,

And a long way home is still in sight.

The elite, Kiều replied, "when they pass away,

"Only lose their physical bodies,

"Not their self intellect in any way.

"My heart probably has met the dead.

"Let’s wait and if it’s true as I just said

I am sure her soul is going to manifest.

Immediately after she stopped speaking

And without one’s having time to reply,

Một lời nόi chửa kịp thưa,

Phút đâu trận giό cuốn cờ đến ngay.

Ào-ào đổ lộc, rung cây,

Ở trong dường cό hương bay ít nhiều.

Dè chừng ngọn giό lần theo,

Dấu giầy từng bước in rêu rành-rành.

Mặt nhìn, ai nấy đều kinh,

Nàng rằng:"Này thực tinh-thành chẳng xa.

"Hữu-tình ta lại gặp ta,

Chớ nề u-hiển, mới là chị em.

Đã lòng hiển-hiện cho xem,

Tạ lòng, nàng lại nối thêm vài lời.

Lòng