we will return

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

we will return

to sing the song of yesteryear

“to greet each other, with the rave of a sand storm…”

we’ll be patient

silent like a child learning to speak

ignoring the scars

not just the recent bombs in Sri Lanka

nor flying bullets of an April long ago

the children in fear held their breath

they sat waiting

for the angels to drop in

dangling

a hook in our throats

to pull us all up…

.

April 2019

_____

rồi chúng ta sẽ quay về

hát bài ca ngày xưa

“gặp nhau mừng như bão cát…”

chúng ta đã kiên nhẫn

lặng lẽ như đứa trẻ chưa biết nói

bỏ mặc những vết thương

không chỉ là bom vừa nổ ở Sri Lanka

hay đạn bay chíu chiu trong tháng 4 đã cũ

những đứa trẻ nín thở vì sợ

chúng ngồi chờ 

những thiên thần bay đến

hạ thòng lọng xuống

móc vào cổ

kéo tất cả chúng ta lên…


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.

By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

There's magic in translating a body of work from one language to another.

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