A Dusk by the Vietnamese Poet Mai Van Phan expl[cated by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

A  Poem in Vietnamese by Mai Van Phan

Translated into English  by

Pompen Hantrakool

Explicated by

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

Text

Sunlight

reluctant to close waits until

A  chrysanthemum closes its white display of petals

Explication

The Sun neither rises nor sets. It is the revolution of the earth  around its own axis that creates the day and the night. So it aooears that the Sun rises and sets.We the common run of men are wont to trust the appearance and the geocentric theory works for us.The Sun  is not the same throughout the day.In the morning the Sun sets out for the odysseus across the blue deep.The dawn shows up .A stork swoops down in quest of its prey. An unkempt dawn indeed.Because with the advent of dawn the lust for life leaps forth.And yes to live one has to kill another sometimes. But it depends. In fact it is the person who reads his own mind in any environ ment whatever.Unlike the stork there is a bird that sips a bright cloud with the dawn breaking.There are storks among men preying upon their fellowmen. But there are poets also here who drink deep in the fountain of the clouds alight with the Sun. The poet awaited the morning and had kept awake throughout the night because the fragrance of the moonlight had forecast the birth of a flower in the morning.When  the  Sun touches the zenith it is in its full glory.Particularly in summer.And then a buffalo is found sleeping deeply.Just as the mood of a human changes from time to time so it is with the Sun.With the advent of evening the Sun becomes mellowed.It rises and sets rises and sets with the wading of the waters while a woman crosses a stream. Once she reaches the other side of the stream the Sun sets once for all.The event shows the rise and fall of the Suns heart beats at the sight of a woman crossing a stream When the woman is no longer seen in the waters the Sun departs from the world. When our loved ones pass away there is no point in lingering here on earth.Nothing is immortal under the Sun. One who is born is sure to die.The Sun knows that the chrysanthemum which burst into laughter in the morning, the flower whose birth was predicted by the fragrance of moonlight is also destined to close its petals.Despite this knowledge the Sun cannot let the chrysanthemum alone to close its white petals.  The Sun lingers till the chrysanthemum closes its white petals.Once the flower closes its petals the Sun sets. Once the woman crosses the stream of the worldly life the sun sets. The Sun is the king of the skies.Its  radiant prowess there is none to dispute. Its empire stretches from one horizon to another. But curiously enough  it does not neglect  the small chrysanthemum. It has its love for the little flower. In other words it is fond of every trifle  that inhabits his realm. All things both great and small  draw its care and attention. The Sun is the type of a great and wise ruler.Where have the woman and the chrysanthemum  vanished? Have they returned home whence they came to this world of phenomena? When the twilight seizes the courtyard of a house the flapping of the wings of gathering birds are heard.They are homing perhaps.

In the light of Japanese culture chrysanthemum is Sub symbol. .