A poem in Vietnamese by Đoàn Phú Tứ
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh
Upon dawn is the crystal clear sound of birdsongs
Inside the cool tones of the wind
Carried gently is the warm scent of a spring yearning
The days of old are no longer cold, the Qin consort
To her we offer our quiet offerings
A cloudy sky lightly steeped in time
The hue of time is not cool
The hue of time is a soothing purple
The scent of time is lightly scented
The scent of time is a limpid tone
Hair is like clouds like a golden dagger
In reticence seclusion she served the emperor
To rather betray his desire
Than him to have seen her ravaged by time
A fateful hundred year is severed
In the lingering scent of an old love
The scent of time is a limpid tone
The hue of time is a soothing purple
(October 2021)
[a translation for Đinh Trường Chinh]
Màu thời gian
Sớm nay tiếng chim thanh
Trong gió xanh
Dìu vương hương ấm thoảng xuân tình
Ngàn xưa không lạnh nữa, Tần phi
Ta lặng dâng nàng
Trời mây phảng phất nhuốm thời gian
Màu thời gian không xanh
Màu thời gian tím ngát
Hương thời gian không nồng
Hương thời gian thanh thanh
Tóc mây một món chiếc dao vàng
Nghìn trùng e lệ phụng quân vương
Trăm năm tình cũ lìa không hận
Thà nép mày hoa thiếp phụ chàng
Duyên trăm năm dứt đoạn
Tình một thuở còn hương
Hương thời gian thanh thanh
Màu thời gian tím ngát
–
Source: thivien.net
Đoàn Phú Tứ, the poet, playwright, and translator, was born and died (1910-1989) in Hanoi, Vietnam. He graduated high school in 1932 and left halfway through a law degree to pursue a career in newspapers like Phong hoá, Ngày nay, Hà Nội báo, and Tinh Hoa. He was the core advocate at the time for an unconventional literary movement. Đoàn Phú Tứ was a prolific playwright, the stage was his main source of creativity and thus rarely composes poetry, he was also the translator for the works of many renowned Western authors.
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 