Love returned, Within a Dream - English Version

Love returned, Within a Dream

Last night,
I dream of seeing you,

and we met each other marked by felicitous and happy time,
then you spoke, "Let's go somewhere for fun,"

content with joy I waited for the time,
to unfortunate sadness, I encountered a hinderance obstacle
in the middle of a city, I have been forced to dwell, trapped by force of will,

for when I escaped this dwelling prison city
I came to meet you again,
Seeing your beautiful smile, I was poised with hope
that I have not come too late for you

But, I was wrong, your beautiful smile was with new love,
you forgotten the person who has been faithful to you,

Sadness, my heart shakes, with pain of loss, my love is won
by another person,

at this scene I came to wake, finally in full conscious, I knew
it was not meant to be, the will of karma was not for us

Pali/Khmer elements: Poem notes.
Writing good poetry in Khmer is hard since it is a common practice to integrate Pali words into the text. These
words conveys cultural obsorption and integration of Buddhist beliefs and values into Khmer society. Words such
as Anukama, Sneh, Thani, Antara, Obasak, Viharana, and puntiniakia for example in this poetry are derived from Pali origin.
The concept of nisai, or "fate", meant to be, is closely linked to the idea of a person's karma. Thus for a poetry from such
different sets of values and belief it is inherently difficult to translate into English. So the above is my best translation based on current
cross-cultural knowledge. I must admit this is probably a really bad translation.

Title meaning Notes:
Love returned, or Annukama, does not mean the actual return of a person, but of the emotion, or a response of the original feeling.

Hope you enjoy!