When I Die Take My Body to the Sea

when I die, take my body to the sea
an exile's life must end without a grave
buried in a strange land a corpse may not dissolve
free the soul to its way home

when I die, take my body to the sea
the ebbing tide will carry it away
across the ocean to the land of my birth
where the bamboo hedges remain forever green

when I die, take my body to the sea
don't close the eyelids yet though, please
let me turn one last time towards home
who knows, my body might arrive there someday

when I die, take my body to the sea
don't for a single second pity me
so many drowned become food for fish
what can one more twisted corpse matter

when I die, take my body to the sea
send me home to catch sight of my children
send me home to see the tears in their eyes-
now sadder than even the darkness of night

when I die, take my body to the sea
on the way sing me the old nation's anthem
for so long no one has bothered to sing it
it's become a ghost tune

when I die, the sadness will die with me
an exile's life true to the soul to the end.

Translation by Kevin Bowen and Nguyen Ba Chung