drawing me

A poem in Vietnamese by Đinh Trường Chinh
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh
Published on Gobblers & Masticadores Espana


drawing me

morning

the frame of her face

floats unhurried above the clouds

down my eyes trickling

water droplets

in bouts of longing

.

in the thoughtlessness of the day

me remembering

my face

like forever since I’ve seen it last

.

I’ve completely forgotten

I’m learning to forget

by trying not to remember

the frame of that face

then after

sit here waiting for those old clouds

to fly by.

.

[May 2019]

_____

vẽ mình

buổi sáng 

khuôn mặt em

trôi chậm trên đám mây

nhễu xuống mắt tôi 

những giọt nước

lên cơn buồn nhớ

.

trong lãng quên ngày

tôi bỗng nghĩ đến 

khuôn mặt mình

hình như đã lâu rồi tôi không thấy nó

.

tôi quên bẵng

mình đang tập quên

bằng cách không nhớ đến

khuôn mặt ấy

rồi sau đó 

ngồi chờ những đám mây cũ

bay ngang.


Đinh Trường Chinh, the poet, and artist was born in 1970 in South Vietnam. The poet currently works in IT in Virginia, U. S. A.

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.

By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

There's magic in translating a body of work from one language to another.

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