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

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ERR IS THE SEASON

.

Written for no one

Yet still baffled so

Written for sundowns

Sunset absent towns

.

Err is the season

Err is the wilted rose

Froze in a draw cold

Sold to those that love

.

A rendezvous nil

That aeon ago

And now still thus so

An ode without love

.

Written for sundown

Dropped two words abiding

Gone are sentiments

As time hangs passes by

.

August 2020

_____

HÌNH NHƯ MÙA ĐÃ LỠ

.

có viết cho ai đâu

mà bâng khuâng tệ thế

viết cho những buổi chiều

không hoàng hôn trên phố

.

hình như mùa đã lỡ

hình như hoa hồng ủ

lạnh đông trong ngăn tủ

bán cho người yêu nhau

.

đã bao giờ hẹn đâu

từ ngày xưa xa ấy

và bây giờ cũng vậy

câu thơ không tình yêu

.

viết cho những buổi chiều

quên hai chữ chờ đợi

rơi đâu rồi cảm xúc

lững lờ thời gian trôi

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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.