by Hoàng Hùng
All the tears of the world surround our house tonight.
You lie against me and the rain is falling
Like nothing we have ever seen–you begin to tell me the sad stories
You have buried in your heart for years:
It rained for thousands of nights turning the darkness white.
Like the cow remembering dung when I went crazy remembering your smell,
Which you lost lying on an anonymous tile floors
leaving me only nights of rain and the smell of tears.
Do you still love me? How far does your love go?
How far resentment and anger?
Fifteen years are hardly enough to understand our hearts.
The constant rain has flooded the ground floor.
Upstairs we lie under the eaves listening to rain beating on the metal roof.
May death come while we lie here together listening to this rain.
Translated by Hoàng Hùng and Joseph Duemer