A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Cường
Translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
An encounter with an old friend
Passing glance… the name mystified… dawning recognition
Vividly the autumn rain fell
Passing people ere eve
Hair peppered… silver felts
Raising cups of wine
Cheer once to our inebriation
To abridge the days and months apart
Hollowed is the spirit of the past
Life’s love mellowed
Wingspan now at the end of the horizon hence
Please just stop explaining
Laugh and converse till your heart is giddy
Till you’re blind drunk
Hands tremoring dizzy
Till the last cheer
Ere dawn awoken are strangers mere
Feet aground forward trod the same right path.
Nguyễn Cường is a poet from Hải Phòng, Vietnam. The poet is currently retired in Sydney, Australia.
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 