 | | |||
Mai Văn Phấn
Translated from Vietnamese by Nhat-Lang Le
Edited by Susan Blanshard
Many people
Wait for night to come
Why am I so unconcerned
Sits alone
Singing softly
A vaguely sad melody
New Day
I peel a calendar page
And write
All over the other side
Resurface
Knowing the seasonal wind
Arrived last evening
Night Rain
Not wanting trees to dry
This morning’s sunlight
Is also wet
Sparrows on a tree
And I
Have fallen asleep
A bird flaps its wings
Four or five neighbors
Open their doors to look
Trees full of fruit
While walking I count
My steps
In the rain
The road
Is in twilight
Perennial peanut flowers
Around the temple tower of Po Nagar
Cannot open their eyes yet
A Flower Vendor’s Burden
The flower vendor wipes her sweat
Peonies
Bundled together with tulips
Rainwater
Flowing through beehives
Spills over a brick wall.
Industrial Era
A dragonfly sitting on top of a crane
In ten minutes
Lifts up three different loads of product
The wind
Grazes through
Several times
Expecting their mother
Leaves around the nest
Call her to them
I see young birds
Newly born
So pitiful
Reading a Book
Suddenly confused
I stare
At a road in the night
Everyone is disappointed
So am I
Then speak
Near a Water Fountain
A pair of pigeons
Look at each other
For a very long time
Old men deep in discussions
A sweeping woman respectfully
Invites them to another bench
Meeting an Old Friend
Conversation
Silence
A brook is still flowing steadily
A clump of ivory bamboo twists and turns
An old man passing by
Arms swinging briskly
I stand on my veranda
Waiting for the moon
To slice me the biggest part
Slippery
They dare not look
At people passing by
They dare not look
At people passing by
A prevailing wind
Blows this way
And that way
Blows this way
And that way
Keep
Burying each other
Into the ground
Burying each other
Into the ground
Fuchsia Flowers
Hanging down
Cast its halo
Over me
Cast its halo
Over me
Dropping a bunch of keys
Just that
Changed so many thoughts
Just that
Changed so many thoughts
A Happy Moment
Is when tearing
A calendar page
A calendar page
Becomes easier
A pigeon flies
Leading the way
For a large cloud
Leading the way
For a large cloud
Stepping on a Patch of Sunlight
I hold tight
Until
The yellow no longer moves
Until
The yellow no longer moves
A dragonfly departs
A bindweed flower
Keeps waving
A bindweed flower
Keeps waving
Longan Flowers
Cling to a bee’s feet
Which drops pollen
Which drops pollen
To the ground
A fish
Wiggles its tail
Up the water
Up the water
My neighbor is away
A window high up
Left open
Left open
A photo blurs with moisture
I see my relatives
From another world
I see my relatives
From another world
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment