Dạy Con Khi Khôn Lớn
Ngày ra đi cha ẵm trên tay,
Con mới khôn, ba tháng một ngày.
Con không biết nhà tan, nước mất;
Không biết mình sao lạc phương Tây.
Tên con, cha phải đặt thêm tên
Cho người dễ gọi, người nghe quen.
Nhưng con nhớ: người, người ta trọng
Là người không chối bỏ tổ tiên.
Con lớn lên, quê người ấm no;
Đất yên vui, tươi thắm bốn mùa.
Con đâu biết quê mình gấm vóc,
Chỉ nghèo hèn từ độ can qua.
Con hãy là gương sáng cần cù;
Hãy là khiêm nhượng, hãy là nhu.
Nhưng con phải giữ niềm kiêu hãnh,
Làm người thua thiệt biết suy tư.
Con sống đời bình đẳng, tự do;
Tâm trí con không ngại, không ngờ.
Con đâu biết tự do, bình đẳng
Ở xứ mình như nắng chiều mưa.
Nơi chốn ganh đua để sống còn,
Trường đời, con hãy nhớ luôn luôn:
Thù con chưa chắc thù của bạn;
Bạn bạn con chưa hẳn bạn con.
Con có quyền mong, có quyền chờ,
Có quyền rất thực, có quyền thơ.
Con đâu biết những gì con hưởng
Là những gì đất nước đang mơ.
Nếu con thấy đêm đen mịt mùng,
Con đừng ngồi đó để mong trăng.
Đừng ngồi đó chờ ai nhóm lửa;
Tự đốt, con ơi, ngọn nến hồng.
Trang Châu
***
Teaching My Growing Child
I held you in my arms, the day we got away,
Just new in life, three months and one day.
You didn’t know the house broken, the country lost,
And why we got lost in the West at any cost.
About your name, I must add another near
To be easy for people to call and familiar to hear.
But remember, as humans, society respects alone
Those who do not deny ancestors of their own.
You have grown up in a prosperous nation,
Fresh in all seasons, a peaceful and happy station.
You didn’t know how rich was our native land.
(Only poor since the war by the betrayal band.)
You, now, be a shining example of assiduity.
Be humble in diligence, and gentle in sedulity.
However, you must keep your primary pride,
Although being a loser, to be a thoughtful inside.
Your life in equality and freedom you live to cloy,
No fear in your mind, no suspicion to make you coy.
You don’t know a bit that freedom and equality,
In our country, it’s like sunshine in a rain oddity.
Then, in this place of competition for survival,
In life school, always remember about each rival:
Your enemy is not necessarily your friend’s foe,
Your buddy’s pal is not necessarily your pal though.
You have the right to hope, to wait, to be a vower.
(There is realistic power, but also poetic power.)
You are not aware that what you now do acquire,
Is in our country’s very dream, what they still aspire.
Therefore, if you see a dark night before you,
Don’t just sit there and wish for the moon due.
Don’t sit there waiting for someone to start a fire,
Yourself my child, light a bright candle to inspire.
Adaptation by Thanh Thanh
I held you in my arms, the day we got away,
Just new in life, three months and one day.
You didn’t know the house broken, the country lost,
And why we got lost in the West at any cost.
About your name, I must add another near
To be easy for people to call and familiar to hear.
But remember, as humans, society respects alone
Those who do not deny ancestors of their own.
You have grown up in a prosperous nation,
Fresh in all seasons, a peaceful and happy station.
You didn’t know how rich was our native land.
(Only poor since the war by the betrayal band.)
You, now, be a shining example of assiduity.
Be humble in diligence, and gentle in sedulity.
However, you must keep your primary pride,
Although being a loser, to be a thoughtful inside.
Your life in equality and freedom you live to cloy,
No fear in your mind, no suspicion to make you coy.
You don’t know a bit that freedom and equality,
In our country, it’s like sunshine in a rain oddity.
Then, in this place of competition for survival,
In life school, always remember about each rival:
Your enemy is not necessarily your friend’s foe,
Your buddy’s pal is not necessarily your pal though.
You have the right to hope, to wait, to be a vower.
(There is realistic power, but also poetic power.)
You are not aware that what you now do acquire,
Is in our country’s very dream, what they still aspire.
Therefore, if you see a dark night before you,
Don’t just sit there and wish for the moon due.
Don’t sit there waiting for someone to start a fire,
Yourself my child, light a bright candle to inspire.
Adaptation by Thanh Thanh
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