The pavement & the moon waltz | Vũ Ngọc Giao

A poem in Vietnamese by Vũ Ngọc Giao
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

one .
the old pavement damp with moonlight ,
the old garden silent and abandoned ,
giving into the scent of ylang ylang .

the distracted notes strummed on the old guitar ,
a halfhearted serenade of endless love .

two .
the old pavement found a place to settle ,
the old bird with broken wings ,
sound sad eyes .

the old moon looks ripe and rather crazy ,
blue bruised and yellow, and hazy, dangling in the middle of the sky .

three .
the old pavement chilled by an empty seat ,
the weepy regret of an old lover ,
Game over .

soon, I will leave the old pavement for the beyond forever ,
light our names, in the remembrance of the old moon .

PHỐ & TRĂNG 


một .
phố xưa chìm ngợp màu trăng ,
vườn xưa im vắng ,
hương hoàng lan đưa .

đàn xưa ai dạo thẫn thờ ,
ta ngồi hát khúc hững hờ trăm năm .

hai .
phố xưa tìm một chỗ nằm ,
chim xưa gãy cánh ,
mắt đăm muộn phiền .

trăng xưa như trái tình điên ,
vàng xanh hiu hắt , treo nghiêng giữa trời .

ba .
phố xưa lạnh một chỗ ngồi ,
tình xưa khóc nuối ,
cuộc chơi đã tàn .

mai , ta bỏ phố lên ngàn ,
thắp tên nhau , nhớ mùa trăng thuở nào .


Vũ Ngọc Giao, the Vietnamese musician, and poet born in 1951, My Tho. A former student Petrus Ký Sài Gòn (1961 – 1968), an alumnus of the Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Literature Saigon (1968 – 1970), he is the founder of Phu Nhuan Guitar Club, Saigon. His poetry is published on many literary websites. A few familiar songs: Looking back at my life, The man with sad eyes (a poem by Đỗ Trung Quân), His return on a rainy night, The July rain…

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.

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By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

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

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