Cam's Love - Hoàng Cầm

If I were young as in the days of old,
I'd take you in forever to live with me.
On each golden sundown that gently rolled,
You'd sing to my lute as in younger days.

But your boat's fast moored on spite's riverside,
And I can't go back to earlier romance.
Always each night my lute sings to the moon
In faded hope I still by you abide.

Those spreading clouds beget the thought of you
While yellow moon lights up my nights of dream.
Still I sit here and play old songs anew
Hoping you'd sing old tunes as in past springs.

Should there be day when you turn back your steps
To see again the harbour of the autumn old,
Our hair would bear no more its dark freshness,
We'd see white clouds, gold moon, romance untold.

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Hoàng Cầm (born 1922) Vietnam
Translated by Thomas D. Le