Cha Tôi - My Father

 

Cha Tôi

Cha tôi thời trai trẻ
Chức việc nho nhỏ
Làng Phú cường, xứ Thủ
Bình Dương
Thuở nhỏ nghe Bà nội nói
Tía mầy được Ông ngoại cưng
Nó muốn “leo bàn thờ”
Ông ngoại cũng cho
Đến phiên ba tôi làm cha

Thằng Đực Lớn làm gì cũng được
Mẹ nằm bịnh, sai bắc cho ấm nước
Thằng Đực tuổi mười ba, mười bốn
Nhóm lửa hoài, thổi hổng cháy
Ba đi làm việc dìa, mẹ mắng vốn
Con ông lớn sầm sầm
Biểu nấu cho ấm nước, nó hổng làm được
Ông già cười hề hề biểu
Nó là con trai, bếp núc cái gì
Miển nó học giỏi là được
Thôi để tui biểu nó chạy ra chợ
Mua cho bà tô cháo là xong
Ngày ông nằm hoi hóp
Trên Kinh Tế Mới, Bảo Lộc
Tôi mới từ ngoài Bắc, ở tù về
Tôi biết ba tôi sắp ra đi
Tôi năn nỉ vợ tôi về lo liệu
Tang ma, hậu sự cho cha
Bởi vì tôi liệu không đủ sức
Đứng nhìn cha già
Cả đời chỉ nuông chìu
Thằng con trai trưởng
Tôi thương cha đứt ruột
Làm sao đứng đó nhìn

Ngày Father’s Day
Nhớ cha già
Nguyễn Thành Nhơn
***

Bài Dịch:

My Father

My dad at his young age
was an official
holding a lower position
at Village Phú Cường
Town Thủ
Province Bình Dương.

I recollected from my childhood
I had heard my grandma saying:
“Your dad is your granddad’s loving son
whom he wouldn’t mind
whether your dad would dare jump on our ancestors’ altar.”

Then it came to the time
when my dad himself turned into a father
he had allowed me - his first son,
Đực Lớn to freely do whatever I wanted to do.

One day, my mom got sick.
She told me to boil water
Đực Lớn, at that time,
in my teen
about thirteen or fourteen,
had tried my best to build a fire.
I had blown as hard as I could
but no vail.

When my dad got home from work,

my mom scolded  me

in front of him
about my hopeless failure:
“your son has been growing too big
But he is still too useless
to be capable of boiling water in the kettle”.

My dad had laughed in his easy mood, while he had been defending me:
“he is a boy
who has no business in a kitchen;
It’s fine so long as he does good in his study.
No problem at all,
let me ask him
to run to the local market
and order a “to-go” bowl of porridge for you.”

By the time, I had just come back
from a concentration camp
in North Vietnam,
I witnessed my dad’s last days
dying in bed
at our home
in New Economic Zone Bảo Lộc.
I was fully aware
that my daddy was about to leave this world.
I had requested my wife
to fully take charge of his funeral
since it was too much for me
to handle such an emotional task.
My dad had devoted his whole life
to take care and pamper me - his eldest son.

I loved him so much that my heart was broken.
my inner-self was shattered.
How on earth could I witness and survive from the farewell to my dedicated father?

On Father’s Day
In Memory of my Dad

Nguyễn Thành Nhơn
English version by
Thao Chuong Tran Quoc Viet