Mưa Sầu
“Today, as if it was on its time, the black clouds started forming; covering up what little sunlight there was left in the evening’s sky. Then, the winds blew with increasing intensity, finally escalated to carrying its own eerie sounds as some sorts of pre-warning signal. And, the rain followed speedily and methodically. Some kinds of super natural being out there had turned on the clock and let the rain came down as so to wash away the dirt, chase the hot temperature, and especially thin out the masses of humanity that moved like ants every where and every which way in this busy city of Saigon. You see! It rains automatically anytime between 4:00PM to 7:00PM every single day, day after day for at least since I’ve been here!
I sat there looking out the window of the well-known coffee shop that happened to have the name as Window Café. “Great, here I am looking out of the windows of the Window Café … The owner must have been a funny person to name it that way since I would want to look at any thing but the window!” I smiled to myself at the funny thought.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw her opening the door walking straight into the shop. She was wearing a tiny pink T-shirt that couldn’t be bigger than my handkerchief, blue jeans that were really tight at the thighs and flared out at the feet, and black high heeled shoes. She was touching her head as if trying to shake away the few tiny rain drops that somehow wetted her hairs. Her tall and fragile figure reminded me of N. When we were dating, those days seemed exactly like today: The early evening, a coffee shop somewhere, the waiting, the rain, and “How come it always rains, do you know?” a sentence that she never failed to speak up at the start. It was spoken in such a way as if it was her style of greeting me. Of course, for that I never found a meaningful reply, but just shaking my head to make an agreeable gesture and an “uhh yeah” in a hoarse voice that was more like to clear my throat. We used to talk about many things, and the rain was just there so naturally that we simply ignored. It never entered into our conversations, except for the sentence she half asked half said in her low, soft, and sweet voice whenever we met. Our love ended sadly, we parted our way; but the rains continue to come and go for however long there’s life on earth.
Approaching the table next to mine, the young woman lowered her head and spoke to the man sitting there: “How come it always rains, do you know?” …”
TVN 10/01/04
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Về đây nghe tiếng mưa rơi
Cho hồn nức nở tả tơi mảnh đời
Không gian lạnh lẽo rã rơì
Gói cơn mộng thắm thả trôi vết tình
Về đâu phận kiếp phù sinh ?
Còn đâu hai chữ duyên tình thuở nao ?
Đôi tay gầy guộc hư hao
Bao giờ ôm hết thương đau nỗi lòng ?
Thu tàn phai úa lập Đông
Mưa xanh hoa cỏ ruộng đồng ngát hương
Ngươì đi còn vướng niềm thương
Có hay kẻ ở vấn vương mưa sầu ?
Em, ta một thoáng đời nhau
Biết chăng mưa mãi trước sau cũng là
Hạt rơi trước, ướt đậm đà
Hạt sau lã chã mặn mà đầu môi
Thì thôi! hạnh ngộ thế thôi
Oan khiên tình lỡ mưa rơi nhắc hoài
Đường mây lối gió miệt mài
Xin mưa xóa hết dấu hài ngươì xưa …
10/01/04
