raindrop | Lê Vĩnh Tài

A poem in Vietnamese by Lê Vĩnh Tài
Translators: Đoàn Duy & Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

“Anh đi em nhé” sculpture by Đàm Đăng Lại, displayed in Buôn Mê Thuột, Vietnam.

She told me of raindrops shattered
like teardrops
tinted with hues
of a rainbow scattered

and I caught a sight
of a sightless soul
calling out to me.
[Đoàn Duy]

she talked about a raindrop shattering
like a teardrop
into seven hues
a rainbow

and I saw
a blind person
called my name
—
[Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm]
March 2023

nàng nói với tôi về giọt mưa vỡ
như giọt nước mắt
bảy sắc
cầu vồng

tôi nhìn thấy
một người mù
đang gọi tên tôi

Đoàn Duy, the translator is from Saigon, Vietnam.

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.

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm's avatar

By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

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

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