a chair on a highway on a rainy afternoon
a velvet chair standing by itself on a highway a chair standing by itself on a highway means its life is over a life of ups and downs before it was brought here and left beside the grass nevertheless it was laid down squarely maybe thanks to a final gesture of love with all four legs standing against the asphalt this rushes an image to my mind: a wandering soul who leisurely sits here between the passing cars and the mud but really no soul can be so foolish to come and sit on a torn old abandoned chair on a dark cold rainy September afternoon on a lightless highway or to give the chair a little consolation I conclude as follows: there exists such a soul just that he, or she, is not here not now
Originally published in the November 2018 issue of Words Without Borders. “Cái ghế giữa xa lộ vào một buổi chiều mưa” first published in Tiền Vệ (www.tienve.org). © P.K. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2018 by P.K. All rights reserved.