Apologies: the original poem in Thai is not yet available
Coming soon!
Returning to Visit My Love
One
I return to visit my love, quietly
I want the coldness of my heart to be taken away
I yearn for tenderness
to embrace the cold where warmth once stirred
Time to step out of the rain
that rains in our hearts and weighs us down
Oh my love I will travel all night
No one has held me for a long time
anxiety ever present
The truth: dreaming is lonely
the further away the closer to this one time
No one has held me for so long
Days stitch and nights weave longing
Time watches over our loneliness
and regrets what's half lost
We must and wait, dreaming
of the vision that inspires us
The journey is the charm that brings us together
After this love will be eternal
It's so long since anyone held me
Duty sent us down different paths
Missing you must end
Already my heart is full to the brim
full of weary days spent apart
exposed to desire heavy with longing
I remember your warm embrace
Each night in my dreams
once loneliness reached out and sundered closeness
yearning for time to pass
when sorrow would fade and cold would thaw
Two
I leave my love so quietly
My ice-cold heart unchanged
Yet again in seach of tenderness
Oh, my love, how can I turn back time?
Returning to Visit My Love
One
I return to visit my love very quietly
I want the icy coldness of my heart to be taken away
I lament and yearn for kindness/hospitality
embrace the cold where heat once rested
it's time to step aside from the sad rainfall
that pours in drops in our breasts and weighs us down
oh my love I will travel overnight on the road
I've embraced myself for a long time
there must be a sign of anxiety not absent
oh the truth the dream is a lonely one
the further away the closer to this one time
I've embraced myself for a long time
the day knits the night weaves missing you
our time watches over our laments
what's lost and gone by half must lament
we must watch over and wait dreaming lamenting wailing
oh the warm soft sweet picture that inspires the dream
travelling the charm to come and meet each other
love will be more eternal after this
I have embraced myself for so long
through duty our steps went different ways
at last missing you will ought to have
my whole heart is full to the brim already my love
it's full of the days apart and weary
resolved and naked to desire tired and heavy
I recall holding you warmly to my breast
each night that's truly warm and dream
loneliness used to reach out to prevent smouldering nearness
that yearned for the long time to pass
that lamenting would subside the cold would crack...
Two
I from leaving my love so quietly
my breast must remain ice-cold not changing
once more anxiously looking for kindness/hospitality
oh my love I don't know if I can reverse time
This very romatic poem comes from an early collection of poems and sees him writing in a very different style from the other poem of his we translated in this workshop, the much more elliptical, ‘The Heart’s Fifth Chamber’. Here, Angkarn is open-hearted and openly in love, longing to return to his beloved after a long separation.
The much longer first part of the poem draws metaphors from nature to express the anguish of separation. We enjoyed translating the poem’s small refrain – each time repeated in a slightly different way – ‘No one has held me for a long time’, ‘No one has held me for so long’ and ‘It’s so long since anyone held me’.
What to make of the second part of the poem? It seems to imply that the longed-for reunion didn’t quite go as the poet had anticipated….
Sarah Maguire, Workshop Facilitator