sleep tear(s)

A poem in Vietnamese by Lê Vĩnh Tài
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

sleep tear(s)
through the night’s fresh fog
colder is tonight in the mountain borough

so go

serendipitous also is the full moon
the way forward is slippery and off-kilter
night singing an anthem of abandonment
notes falling as leaves are across this land

sleep tear(s)
_____

ngủ đi nước mắt
hàng đêm xanh sương mù
phố núi đêm nay lạnh hơn

đi thôi

cả vầng trăng rồi cũng là số phận
làm chòng chành con đường
đêm đang hát như người bị phụ tình
bài ca lá bay xuống đất

ngủ đi nước mắt…
_____
JULY 2020

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Lê Vĩnh Tài, the poet and translator born in 1966 in Buon Ma Thuot, Daklak, Vietnam. The retired doctor is still a resident of the Western Highlands and a businessman in Buon Ma Thuot.

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.