David Lan Pham

I Will Come Back Tomorrow


(Picture: internet)

Translated into English from Ngay Mai Toi Ve, a Vietnamese song composed by Han Chau in 1973. 

Han Chau, pen name of Le Dinh Nam, was born in 1947 in Bong Son, Binh Dinh province. 

Ngay Mai Toi Ve wasn’t an anti-war song but it was a song of peace hope from the peace lovers in a country ruined by continual wars after WWII.

David Lan Pham, F.A.B.I.

I Will Come Back Tomorrow
English translation from Ngay Mai Toi Ve,
a Vietnamese song by Han Chau (1947-)
 Original lyric of Ngày Mai Tôi Về
(Hàn Châu 1947 - )

I will come back tomorrow,
Leaving behind the spike- traps, minefields.
In the immense joys, proudly I will return to someone
The horrible geographic names known by everyone:

A Giao (1), Cam Lo (2), Southern Laos, Khe Sanh (3), 
The cannon- balls explosion upon the Ancient Citadel (4).
Let’s glorify the green grassy graves
In which some people took their unconscious sleep in the battlefields yesterday.
Alas! the battlefields were older than their age.

I will thank the existent lovers
For loving the young warriors in their long journeys.
I will thank  our life  for letting me see my friends, those livings around me again.

Tomorrow there will be no longer cannon-balls explosion up in the air
And fallen corpses in the combat trenches.
I will depart from the South to the North,
Drop by the Huong River (5) to see my lovely people,
To visit the city streets and neighborhoods,
Melancholic Hue (6) to hear the alternate chants echoing.

Mai đây tôi về, Bỏ lại sau lưng những hầm chông, bãi mìn.
Tôi hiên ngang trong niềm vui rộng lớn,
Trả lại cho ai những địa danh quá hãi hùng
Mà người đời từng biết tên:

A Shau, Cam Lộ, Hạ Lào, Khe Sanh,
Pháo nổ trên Cổ Thành.
Xin vinh thăng những mồ xanh cỏ biếc
Có kẻ hôm qua đã ngủ yên trên chiến trường.
Tuổi chiến trường dài hơn tuổi mình.

Tôi xin đa tạ những người tình hôm nay
Đã biết thương anh lính trẻ đường dài.
Xin đa tạ cuộc đời đã cho tôi thấy mặt bạn bè, những người còn quanh tôi.

Mai đây không còn đạn nổ trên cao,
Xác thù trong chiến hào.
Tôi ra đi, đi từ Nam về Bắc
Ghé lại sông Hương, thăm người thương,
Thăm phố phường,
Thăm Huế buồn vẳng nghe tiếng hò.

 Footnotes:

  1.  A Giao:  A remote hamlet in Quang Tri province near the Viet- Lao border.  A bloody battle occurred there in 1966.  The North Vietnamese soldiers (bo doi) called it A Sầu.  In some documents it was known as A Shau or A Shao.
  2. Cam Lo (Hill 37) has been a district of Quang Tri province.  From 1972 to 1975  the Headquarters of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam headed by Huynh Tan Phat was in Cam Lo.
  3. Khe Sanh (Ta Con) has been the district capital of Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province.  It was famous for its bloody battle lasting from January 21 to July 9 1968.
  4. The Ancient Citadel (Co Thanh) was a fort in Quang Tri province built on the bank of the Thach Han River in 1809.
  5. Huong Giang:  River of Perfumes.  It’s the scent of sweet flag (called ‘bo bo’ or ‘thuy xuong bo’ by the Vietnamese) of which the scientific name is Acorus alamus, Family: Acoraceae.
  6. Hue was the Imperial Capital of Vietnam under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802- 1945).

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Listen to the song “Ngay Mai Tôi Về” – singer Chế Linh

 

 

 

 

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Cái Đình - 2025