Khổ tâm (Painful) - Cô Phượng [Vinh Sử] (1967)

Ngâm
Cây hoằng vì bởi trái sai
Em xa Anh vì bởi anh tay trắng nghèo

Recited

The Fibraurea recisa is overrun with fruit

I'm far from you because of your poor empty hands

Khổ tâm vô vàn khi mình lìa nhau.

It's been endless pain since we separated
Cũng do Cha Mẹ em vốn sang giàu

Because my folks are rich and important  
Sân nhà phơi hồng xác pháo, em ngỡ xác chết tim đau, thôi vẫy tay chào giây cuối qua cầu.

Our yard is laid out with red firework remains, I'd believe they're the corpse of a pained heart, fine, I'll wave during the final seconds crossing the bridge

Khổ tâm khôn lường cho phận làm con.
It's immeasurable pain for a child's fate

Nghĩa Me công thầy thân gái vuông tròn.

Her parents's duty, a girl's life perfectly arranged.
Vâng lời theo chồng xa xứ, sang giàu nhưng chẳng sắc son em vui vui gượng, em cười cười suông.
Agreeing to follow a husband to a faraway place, rich but inconstant I'll strain to be happy, I'll give a false smile.

Hỡi Thầy Mẹ, Ép mỡ ép dầu, sao đành ép duyên con, cho cau xanh phải xa trầu.
Oh mom and dad, you can force out oil, how you force out my true love, force the green areca far from the betel. 
Hỡi Thầy Mẹ, hôm bước qua cầu, nhìn cầu bao nhiêu nhịp, nghe lòng mình sầu bấy nhiêu

Oh mom and day, the day I cross the bridge, I'll note how many posts the bridge has and feel sad that much in my heart  

Khổ tâm cam đành mang lòng bạc đen.

Painful, I'm resigned to a heart of betrayal and ill fortune
Chắc anh thông cảm em nổi ưu phiền.

Surely you'll understand me and my distress.
Vui gì ư? 

Happy about what?

Đời nhung gấm, bên người không nghĩa con tim, đêm môi lạ mơ người tình quen.

My life of embroidered velvet, beside somebody with no attachment to my heart, at night with unfamiliar lips, I'll dream of the lover I know.

nguồn: Cô Phượng, "Khổ tâm" ([Saigon]: [Tác giả], 1973).

I am uncertain about the meaning of the recited opening couplet. "Cây hoằng" seems to be the "cây đằng hoằng" or Fibraurea recisa pictured below.

image source: https://www.picturethisai.com/wiki/Fibraurea_recisa.html

I cannot find any folklore that is associated with this plant - a wild vine whose roots have powerful medicinal properties. The fruit appear to serve no function useful to mankind but has a distinctive yellow color. The meaning suggested to me by this couplet is that the fecundity of this vine's fruit matches the extent of the poverty of the narrator's beloved? 

Her parents are well off and the man she loves is too poor and unworthy in their eyes. She goes through with the wedding her parents have arranged because she has no other apparent choice. But every step of the way she holds on tightly to the affection she has for her beloved. Her parents would symbolically separate cau (areca palm) and trầu (betel net), the two essential ingredients of a happy engagement. She measures the distance crossing the bridge -- crossing a river being the symbolic threshold leaving the world of her family to join a new family. 

As is often the case in Vinh Sử's songs, there are folk verses to reference.

Qua cầu ghé nón trông cầu,

Cầu bao nhiêu nhịp dạ sầu bấy nhiêu

Crossing the bridge I lower my hat to give it a look

For each section of the bridge I feel greater melancholy

The lyrics use the words "sắc son" which must be the words "sắt son" or "son sắt" pronounced in the Southern dialect. "Sắt" means iron or steel - something strong and enduring. A folk couplet uses this image to express a willingness to endure hardship in loving relationship.

Cho dầu phận có long đong,

Nhưng tình son sắc thì lòng vẫn vui

Even if fate brings misfortune

But with resolute love, my heart will remain happy

Aware that her heart lacks conviction in what is supposed to a happy day and a happy union, so she can only pretend and smile to allow her unwanted future to begin.

The pairing of "bạc đen" must be a compression of an image from The Story of Kiều.

Thưa nhà huyên hết mọi tình,

Nỗi chàng ở bạc, nỗi mình chịu đen

Respectfully telling the mother her feelings

Of his betrayal and her misfortune

The betrayal must be her forced betrayal of her beloved, and, of course, the misfortune is her own. But ultimately she will not betray him. Even in the embrace of her new husband she be dreaming of her lovers lips.

The villain in this tale and in many similar tales are the parents who covet wealth and possessions. She cannot properly protest any decision her parents have made. Her new husband might similarly be a victim. Maybe he was forced to separate from his lover to enter into a union with a woman determined to show him no affection?

Giao Linh introduced "Khổ tâm" on the Kim Đằng 1 tape release in August 1973. Evidently Thanh Tuyền recited the poem at the song's opening.