Your wit my lady is my downfall

A poem by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: a portrait of Phan Quỳnh Trâm by Đinh Trường Chinh

YOUR WIT MY LADY IS MY DOWNFALL

(a poem inspired by Phan Quỳnh Trâm)


Your wit my lady is my downfall
I’m at your feet
grovelling

I’m your cloak and dagger
use me
please

By this daunting horizon
your eyes are my guiding light
the muscles in my thighs
the air in my ventricles
the fresh air in my mind

You’re measured by nothing at all
the extent of your boundaries
the oxygen in your lungs

They see your shell
Never your hell

The value of love paid
by a currency born of your soul
so behold my love

You are the clear sky
the blissful clouds at dusk
the dust in their eyes.

_____
JULY 2021

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.