"厝"

"厝" |cuò| in Chinese is referred to as "disposal". It is transcribed into chữ Nôm as |thố| or |thác|, which literally means "death", as used in The Tales of Kieu:

Kiều rằng: "Những đấng tài hoa,

Thác là thể phách, còn là tinh anh."
(Kieu says, "The people with extreme gift only die physically, but the elegance and mastery of their souls live forever)

Which appeals me heartedly is not Nguyen Du's masterful usage/creation of words (neither am I qualified to discuss such a matter), but that now I've come to understand what Trịnh Công Sơn means in his ballad, "Đêm thấy ta là thác đổ." I've been thinking about the title a lot, particularly the phrase "thác đổ" without figuring out a satisfactory answer to myself. How is it supposed to be interpreted?
Either:
- Whenever we are in the night, the fall falls. ("thác" = "fall", "đổ" = also "fall", used as a verb)
or:
- In the night, we see ourself as a falling fall. ("thác" = fall, "đổ" = "falling, used as a pronoun)
And now:
- In the night, we dream ourself dying. ("thác đổ" is used as the metaphor of "death", because
1-"thác" means "decease" and
2-a fall falls irreversibly and infinitely, just like the flow of time and life)

While I fail to read his mind, I'm inclined to the third possibility. Because, allusively or not, that's what he always sings about, in every other song, such as "Bên Đời Hiu Quạnh" ("By the Lonesome Life")

Đường nào dìu tôi đi đến cơn say
Một lần nằm mơ tôi thấy tôi qua đời
Dù thật lệ rơi lòng không buồn mấy
Giật mình tỉnh ra ồ nắng lên rồi
(There's a road that leads me to illusions. Once, I dream of the end [decease]. Although the tears fell down, my heart grew out of dismal as I then, awoke to the rays of light)

Death exists as a permanent conception, vì "khi đêm dài lắm mộng, khi ngày nắng mê man, dù u hay hiển, sinh tồn cũng chỉ là một dạng vật chất vô thực, hiện hữu sơ sài trong con người của ông."



-written on a night of reading (the epic tales) and listening (the salient lyricals). Both masterpieces.