“I was at a loose end (didn’t know what to do -to kill the time)”

so I went off on a tangent and read her copied verse

her verse in a language second to mine ( English )

the letters tipsy turvy the sentences reverse

–

it was there – that poem the original

my mother’s tongue my first, his ( Vietnamese )

he meant this she thought what! ( I didn’t want to speak – dumbfounded)

–

I said nothing ( smiled ), and she

she went off into some world ( her ego )

…

so passing are the days, since “I went reading it”

I spoke – we ALL smiled ( she may have shed tears )

and the world was that colour ( baby blue )

______

MAY 2019

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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.