one verse

A poem in Vietnamese by Thanh Tâm Tuyền
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh

ONE VERSE

The driver wore black

drove an empty van

the sad rain was up late and poured over the sunny land 

the lovers sang in passing tenderness

no (da)Dadaism nor Surrealism 

straight forward

folklore to free verse

MỘT BÀI THƠ

 

Người tài xế mặc áo đen

chiếc xe hàng vắng

mưa xứ nắng buồn dậy muộn

tình nhân thở dĩ vãng vuốt ve

không đa đa siêu thực

thẳng thắn

khởi từ ca dao sang tự do

* nguồn : Thanh Tâm Tuyền . Tôi Không Còn Cô Độc . Người Việt xuất bản , in tại nhà in Hợp Lực , xong ngày 15-10-1956 .


Thanh Tâm Tuyền (1936-2006), real name Dư Văn Tâm, was a poet, as well as critic, editor, fiction writer, and playwright. He was born in Vinh, moved to Saigon in 1954, emigrated to the US in 1983, and died in Minnesota in 2006. (Source: Wikipedia)

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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