A poem in Vietnamese by Lê Vĩnh Tài
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
I need the rain. Drooping dry branches,
breaking into bits.
low and loaded
like two broken lead
pendulum.
I need the rain, roots
cold,
cracked,
and starved,
curled up like a cage of
bleached white bone.
I need the wet, the torrent. Sad leaves
oppressed,
choked up, suffocating
dry,
dying,
like sand falling perpetually
through the hourglass
I need space.
gọi mưa…
tôi cần mưa. những cành gãy vụn,
khô héo rũ xuống.
thấp và nặng nề
như hai con lắc
bằng chì vỡ.
tôi cần mưa
lạnh lẽo,
nứt nẻ,
rễ cây héo úa
cuộn tròn như một cái lồng
xương bị nắng tẩy trắng.
tôi cần lũ lụt. những chiếc lá
tối tăm,
nhấn chìm,
ngột ngạt khô héo
và chết dần
như một
bãi cát vô tận thời gian
tôi cần sự trống rỗng.
—
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 
❤️
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Nice ❤️
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thank you 🙂
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Poignantly beautiful!
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thank you Dawn. Happy Friday yeah..
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Thanks for the translation. I like the wordplay and the Summon The Rain concept 💯✍️😄
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people sometimes believe they are gods? 🙂
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Yes, interestingly enough 😄
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I personally have always looked at you as a Goddess 😄💌
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haha ha thank you 🙂
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Haha you are welcome 😄💘💘
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We do need a little rain.
Like plants, we need to be able to grow.
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