A poem in Vietnamese by Quách Thoại
Translation by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Hey! a century of people is within me
Tucked away in a grave by a hill
Where heaven showed up on a throne
So I cried and I cried and I couldn’t stop CRYING.
Tôi khóc
Ôi! con người thế kỷ ở trong tôi
Đã cất xong ngôi mộ cạnh hòn đồi
Mà thiên đàng hiển hiện ngự trên ngôi
Cho nên tôi khóc, tôi khóc hoài không thôi.
—-
Nguồn: Phạm Thanh, Thi nhân Việt Nam hiện đại (quyển hạ), NXB Xuân Thu tái bản, 1990
Quách Thoại (1930-1957) Born Đoàn Thoại in Hue, Vietnam. He loved Tagore from an early age, at 18 he left for Saigon as a freelancer for newspapers like Đoàn kết, Làm dân. Within two years became the General Secretary for Nguồn sống.
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 
Sad but profound and poignant poem.
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Translating QT poetry I get the sense that he was bi-polar.. definitely not at all boring.. LOL
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When I was younger, I used to worry about being bi-polar.
But now, I realize I’m just quirky and eccentric.
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Great self-realization yeah.. I agree with you.. you are quirky and eccentric 😀
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LOL ! 😂
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A powerful and moving poem! 💖
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Thank you 😍
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