Composer: Trinh Cong Song
English Title: White Summer
Translated By: Mikki

Call forth sunlight!
On your slim shoulder
A shirt flutters on a distant road

Sunlight passed by sorrowful eyes
The soul filled with intoxicated happiness
The path where you return
Enclosed by cloudless sky
The traveled road through seasons
Illuminated by sunlight

Call forth sunlight!

To fill the evening’s dream
With fluttering white flowers
So your arm will be elongated
Further soften tomorrow’s sun
Your returned footsteps
Which I failed to notice
Call the sunlight’s name so that
It will fade on the long river

No more, will I plead for life’s favors
In this illusion
Call autumn to arrive
I escorted you to return
Your feet lightly stepped
Melancholy sky, high winds

I asked for us to be together
For always
Sunlight will not call on sadness
Even if the familiar shirt wrinkles
I ask that in our old age
We’ll continue to call each other’s name

Call forth sunlight!
To pin your hair
With the falling light flowers

Sunlight escorted you home
To the high region; gushing winds
Now, your shirt is
Blurred at a far distance
I will always call your name
For the rest of this dream…

Translator’s Note: This is one of the harder to translate from Vietnamese to English songs of Trinh Cong Son since it has many symbolism and metaphors that only the composer himself would truly understand. Thus, instead of focusing most of my time translating the lyrics words for words I focused on trying to deliver the overall message of this song. Overall, this song is about a man who still hold feelings for his past love.

This is a translation of “Dau Tinh Sau” which is the song at the beginning. The second song “Le Da” (literally translates as Tears of a Rock) will be translated later.

Composer: Ngo Thuy Mien
English Title: Imprint of a Sorrowful Love
Translated By: Gigi

Sunlight still radiates during the evening, letting the wind begin its search
For the trail of your footprints that have passed by many times before
Lyrics from a song emitting from sorrowful fingers
Leaving behind a frozen soul for a thousand years
Fragile years of age still ardent within the colors of those eyes

Violet clouds still present in the skies, letting the leaves daydream
Leaves weep upon those eyelashes causing sorrow to seep into those lips
Evening spreads to the mountaintops over our heads
Dulling this love causing those heels to bring forth sadness
Please let the feelings of resentment cover these streets

Music emits from the guitar, concealing the sorrowful years of age
Deserted streets, allowing leaves to return to their roots
To the person who’s searching, please evoke these feelings of resentment
Ever since the wind carried the imprints of the earth
The road up the rocky slopes shrouding the marks of passion
Do you still remember or have you forgotten your words?

And so you have come to search for that mesmerizing voice
Those footprints of the past have now been buried in silence
The rows of trees dream of the shadow that appeared on those streets
I beckon out to you once the sunlight has faded
I call forth for love to plummet into oblivion.

Note: Only the first half of the video is the song featured here. The second half is the song “Pho Dem,” which has already been translated.

Composer: Tam Anh
English Title: Story of a Thoughtless Love
Translated By: Gigi

Love had just budded yesterday
Yet today eyes are already filled with bitterness
Tears obscuring my faith in love
Tears washing away this dream-like state

My beloved, you’re so far away
Robbing from me these feelings of love
Who am I crying for today?
Who will cry for me tomorrow?

My beloved, I’m crying over a foolish love
Dried tears bruising my eyes and lips
Overflowing tears washing away your love
Overflowing tears, thoughts brought them back

My beloved, I’m now so frail
Without any love left
Who am I crying for today?
Who will cry for me tomorrow?

So I’ll just leave, so I’ll just leave
Even though you’re often quite heartless
Because I’m still.. still lingering over it
I’m away from you, I’m away from you
What’s left, what’s left now?
Where I can find the face of my beloved?

Why is love filled with lingering thoughts?
My beloved is now happy in a distant place
My beloved is away from my arms
My beloved has left me

My dear, what’s left to love now?
My innocence has been killed
Who am I crying for today?
Who will cry for me tomorrow?

Composer: Lam Phuong
English Title: Sad City
Translated by: Gigi

Which city was it? Do you remember?
The place where we both found our time of peace
Which city was it where we walked until we were tired?
Across the curvy roads with pine trees stationed at every corner
With our hands intertwined, we basked in the afternoon sun
Sunlight gently kissed your lips, coloring them pink
Your eyes were sad amidst the evening mist
I thought they looked even more beautiful…

Which morning was it? Do you remember?
Sunday was the day we spent our time together
The sad city laid still as the mist spreads
People grew silent, buried beneath the mist
I kneeled beside you in a corner of the church
Hearing our prayers, I weaved a future for our love
If God blesses us, he will let us be together forever

From then on, our love began to fade because of distance
From then on, you became someone’s wife in distant place
Silently, I regretted this life of mine
While you cried your eyes out in vain
I returned to gather our memories in search of happiness

A sad city… filled with regrets
Where the evening wind blows, chilling my soul
And on that one road where leaves would fall
Without you, even the rocks feel sorrow
Without you, the streets feel so desolate
The sound of the evening bell slowly echoes across
Bidding farewell to the person who’s forgetting the mountainous slopes
The person who’s forgetting this love.

Translator’s Note: The city that the composer is referring to is Da Lat in Vietnam. Once called “Little Paris” by the French colonists who founded it, Da Lat is now known for its beautiful mountain scenery and delightfully cool mountain weather. Due to previous French colonization, Da Lat is filled with European-styled mansions and Catholic churches built by the French. The composer wrote this song after visiting Da Lat.

Composer: Dieu Huong
Lyrics Translation: Mikki
English Title: Apprehensive

I’m sitting here afraid of the dark shadow
The dark shadow that passed through a long night
A dreary night. Oh, the desolateness of
My soul…I became apprehensive
Anticipating for every second, every minute to arrive
A cease to these pains
Waiting for light during the day-time
Like that once sense of hope
For the misery to end

Because you have already gone far, far away
Your past loving words resound
Daylight is approaching, already separating our love
Every passing night it’s torturing me
In the dark shadow of departure

I’m sitting here retracing every step
Counting your returned footprints
But it’s a far, too far trail
You’re are still lost in daze
We used to love…Don’t perpetuate
These endless pains
Creating broken pieces in our soul
Permanently engraving in each of our life
Wounds and scars