AUTUMN’S END | Nguyễn Cường

Chim Hải, Trâm, Nguyễn Cường at the NSW Art Galleries, October 20th, 2018.

A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Cường
Translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

The skies chill at autumn’s end
Yet still the rain hail gales persist
To distant calls so you’ve tend
In dark shadows I’m left purged dry.

These forgotten tryst in life
Not once wholly ever perfect
To home falls all dying leaves
In me silently autumn’s death.

CUỐI THU


Trời se lạnh cuối thu rồi em ạ
Mà gió mưa vẫn quần tụ quanh đời
Em đi theo tiếng gọi nơi xa
Anh dốc cạn mình trong bóng tối

Cuộc đời đã bao lần lỗi hẹn
Chưa một lần trọn vẹn tươi xanh
Cánh lá vàng tìm rơi về cội
Thu đã tàn lặng lẽ trong anh …


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'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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