5:29 pm, 25/02/21
Months ago I read a book about the history of art and unsurprisingly this painting was featured in it. Among all the artworks I’ve ever seen and known, this is my most preferred one (now it sounds like a second-grade essay’s beginning). But believe me, the very moment I saw it, my heart was full with fondness.
Somehow, it calms my aching soul and brings the pure and soft feeling of love despite having a dark tone for the background. There are many things more about this painting which make it become an iconic work of art in the history like the technique, the color scheme, the symbolism and so on. However, it’s the story for another day. The point here is I just want to say that I love this painting for the feelings it conveys to me. After all, love is salvation, love is the land of peacefulness, not logic and reason.
I say this since when it came to something or someone we like or love, we unconsciously make the choice that is easier for us to interpret if we had to. In a sense, explanation is just explanation, nothing more. There is no such thing as “logical decision-making” in reality. Our first pick is based on our emotion but when we’re triggered with the question “why”, our so-called rational mind bend and choose another option. I know this, you know this and everyone knows this but can we escape it? No can do. That’s how we are coded from the beginning of time, a creature whose mind is mysterious and deceitful.
Now, it seems that I’m drifting much far away from our starting point…
Yesterday, when I woke up from a late afternoon nap, suddenly some words came to my mind. Line after line, in the end they formed into some kind of poem-liked structure and obviously, it’s not a poem as there’s no rhyme here… not to mention the disobedience of Vietnamese poetry’s rules. Honestly, I don’t know what category of literature it belongs to… Besides, it also out of sync with the above parts for being written in Vietnamese. I did have the intention to translate it into an English version but it didn’t work, it didn’t feel right. So I let it be what it be…
“Em thấy gì trong những giấc ngủ triền miên?
Em giữ được gì qua những tháng năm trải đời lặng lẽ
Thôi thì Em cứ ngủ say đi
Vùi đôi mắt buồn trong mộng chân thương
Nụ hôn sâu đưa lời tự biệt
Lời thầm thì cuộc tình chớm mộng
Hẹn nhau ở hừng đông mới
Nơi nhánh hồng chưa thấm sương thơm
Nơi muộn sầu chưa nhuốm chân mi
Nơi quên đi nguyện cầu ngày cũ
Giấc say nồng cuốn mất thương đau…”
11:05 pm, 26/02/21.
Gác Nhỏ Của Lam 