A poem in Vietnamese by Hứa Hiếu
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
556.
______________
what corner of the universe is cracking
the holes leaking
time slipping away void of thoughts
the day barely expressed wrapped up in a setting sun
the night in a flicker of an eyelid the fresh morning dew
barely a sip of life
and already fatefully staggering
yet to find what’s predestined
to have already lost destiny
flesh and bone barely enough to lay the foundation of ideals
yet buried is
history
time now
the smoking incense
of loss, and
adversity.
.
July 2021
—
không biết xó hẻm nào của vũ trụ bị nứt, lủng
đã rò rỉ
thời gian trôi tuồn tuột không ngờ
ngày chưa tỏ đã vội vã hoàng hôn
đêm chưa chợp mắt đã ngợp lắm sớm mai tươi rói
chưa hớp hết ngụm đời sống
đã ngất ngưởng khệnh khạng số phận
chưa tìm ra lá số tử vi
đã thất tán căn phận
xương cốt chưa kịp đắp nền lý tưởng
đã mộ phần
lịch sử
bấy giờ năm và tháng
chỉ còn khói nhang
của lưu lạc, và
vất vưởng.
__________
Hứa Hiếu
Hứa Hiếu, the poet from Vung Tau, Vietnam, currently living in Lawrenceville, USA.
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.
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm 
I touched upon this idea in my poem, “if I Die in my sleep”—even before we get to dream about certain things, unleash it and chase after it, that dream is already destroyed and made unattainable to us. This idea that, before someone even gets the chance at attempting towards something, it is taken away from them is truly heart-wrenching and discouraging.
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you can relate because you are like him, forced to leave your childhood home.
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Yeah, wow. I don’t really know how to react to that. Interesting ideas
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