A poem in Vietnamese by Bùi Kim-Anh
Translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

days locked up in the public garden

shrubs and trees silent

empty footpaths yearning for the clatter of feet

.

a small dog perched watching

I’m inside looking out 

as the days passed by

.

I’m old so be told

time has turned its back on me

but next to me 

there is always poetry

.

May 2021

—

CHỦ NHẬT 30/5

.

công viên những ngày khoá lại 

cỏ cây im lìm như ngủ 

lối không người qua nhìn thèm

.

con chó nhỏ nằm trên sân nhỏ nhìn ra 

ta ngồi trong nhà nhìn ra 

mỗi ngày như thế trôi qua

.

ta đã là người già 

thời gian ngoảnh mặt với ta 

chỉ có thơ mãi ở lại

.

#bka21

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Bùi Kim Anh, the poet born in 1948 in Thái Bình, graduated from Hanoi Teacher College, a teacher at a few high schools in Hanoi(Cổ Loa, Bạch Mai, Trần Phú). She is a member of the Vietnam Writers Association. Bùi Kim Anh together with her journalist husband Trần Mai Hạnh currently lives in Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Hanoi with their eldest daughter and grandchildren, including Thiện Nhân, from Mount Thành, Quảng Nam, abandoned by his mother and adopted by Trần Mai Anh, the poet’s daughter.

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the blogger, poet, and translator, was born in 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.