Letter to Uyên from Mom
Tưởng nhớ đến Kim Phượng, người
bạn quý đã ra đi
vĩnh viễn
I
am writing this letter to you,
my love,
my jewel, my treasure.
you have
given me hope, life and faith,
for you
were my dearest daughter.
you have
provided me with strength,
for our
mother-daughter bond is an everlasting love.
even
though I am now gone forever,
I
will still be watching you from above.
life is
filled with sorrows,
day in
and day out.
but the
day you were born from my womb,
my life
changed, and I took a different route:
brightness
replaced darkness,
the songs
of birds filled the air.
the
flowers blossomed with color,
and my
heart never experienced a love so rare.
when we
escaped from Vietnam,
I
ran in fear, terrified of what may come.
you were
only seven months old then,
and
already born into a life more treacherous than some.
both of
us struggled together through life,
but no
matter how tired I was during the day,
holding
you in my arms at night,
always
made my troubles go away.
throughout
the years you have grown up.
our mutual love for
one another accumulates.
you were
always so obedient and respectful,
I
was always able to confide in our fate.
I
can never forget the day I married John,
for it
was the happiest day of my life.
John
loves us both dearly,
I
was so happy to be his wife.
we do not
have control over our fate,
for it
takes its toll on people at random.
I’m
sorry we never got to finish our journey together,
because
it seems as if my time has come.
I
now do not have a chance to take care of you,
to talk
to you, to cook for you, to go shopping with you,
to find
you a good husband, to attend your wedding…
oh, there
are so many things that I wish I could do!
please now
wipe away your tears.
I
might not be with you physically
but
during bad times or good times,
my
presence will be with you endlessly.
life is
unpredictable,
it causes
us to be split apart.
so,
please take care of your dad for me.
in
heaven, both of you will always be in my heart.
Nguyễn Tài Ngọc