Hoi An

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What for pagoda’s pillars

What for moss-covered tiles

The neatly arranged tiles

Watching the clouds passing overhead

I wonder:

What for pagoda’s pillars

What for moss-covered tiles

To let the clouds pass hesitatingly

And my mind is sinking in the sluggish & dark zone

But I don’t know

where is  that zone of sluggishness & darkness?

 

Wandering wandering

My feet don’t feel weary

Wondering wondering:

Pagoda’s pillars?

tiled roofs?

moss?

 

Wondering wondering:

Between the white hair old lady who chews the betel

And Hoi An

What is the difference?

 

While the life is passing hurriedly

Hoi An crouched besides the white hair old lady

 

What for pagoda’s pillars

What for moss-covered tiles

To let  the streets immersed in sadness…

 

* Hoi An is the famous old town in central Vietnam

           (Trans. by Hoang Hung)