What is there left to say

A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Văn Gia
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Thirty thousand people unjustly lost their lives 

A transgression the size of a mountain

The evil deed of educated people

Accepting money-commissioned-blood

The misplaced ashes 

How will they rest?

How will they escape their earthly bounds

O murdering thieves

Demons in human disguise

Mouth spurting morality

While their hands pick our pockets

The nauseating faces

The consequence of what is happening right in front of you

It is no joke…

June 2022

_

HẾT LỜI

Ba vạn người chết oan

Tội to như trái núi

Ác thay lũ cẩu quan

Ngậm tiền-hoa-hồng-máu 

Tro cốt còn thất lạc

Làm sao mà yên nghỉ

Làm sao mà siêu thoát 

Hỡi cái lũ gian ác

Quỷ dữ đội lốt người

Miệng lên giọng đạo đức

Tay giở trò móc túi 

Nhìn mặt đã muốn ói

Nhân quả chuyện trước mắt

Không phải chuyện đùa đâu…


Nguyễn Văn Gia, the poet and facebooker is a retired English professor who currently lives in Danang, Vietnam.

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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