A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Saigon summer 2022
One day of suffering ripened within me
So I went to the tree and sat down quietly
The durian tree dropped its fruit on the resting water
The surface of the lake shattered in drifting stars
Come on darling, in the thousand years that had passed by
In the moon’s shadow always is my soul
The sky was born that very afternoon so I may
See the forest clouds flying far far away
—
July 2022
_
Tôi thấy mây rừng
Một ngày đau khổ chín trong tôi
Tôi đến bên cây lẳng lặng ngồi
Cây thả trái sầu trên nước lắng
Mặt hồ tan vỡ ánh sao trôi
Thôi nhé ngàn năm em đi qua
Hồn tôi cô tịch bóng trăng tà
Trời sinh ra để chiều hôm đó
Tôi thấy mây rừng bay rất xa
Thơ Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.
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.
A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh
Mùa thu by Đinh Trường Chinh
I see life barely as a twenty-year-old
Looking back and forth
At the heads laden with sorrow ahead
Followed by those with undissolved sadness
/
I see life barely as a twenty-year-old
It intrigued me but I couldn’t laugh
How you would grow up and get married
To then die alone in cold soil
/
I see life barely as a twenty-year-old
Saw the suffocating emptiness across the sky
My father and mother, my family, all around me
But I was alone
/
The hesitant steps on a quiet path
Across the horizon, the explosion of white clouds
My head was low in discerning teardrops
I knew then everything would end in sadness
/
The sea of boredom is vast and wide
Washing out the saddest of moments
Gosh the sleepless nights discerning the distance
The emptiness returning from four corners of the world
/
I see life barely as a twenty-year-old
Sometimes dreaming high
Sometimes times sad for far-fetched reasons, not mine
Knowing all shall perish, all shall end
/
To love still when my parents were gone
To discern sadness still in yearning
But my love will never be constant
My apologies to those I love
/
Yes, my love will never be enough
Since everything is nothing but sea bubbles
Yes, everything is nothing but bubbles in the sea
—–
April 2022
—
Bọt nước
Tôi dòm đời khi tuổi sắp hai mươi
Nhìn trước nhìn sau thấy rõ ràng
Những người đi trước sầu đeo nặng
Những người đi sau sầu không tan
/
Tôi dòm đời khi tuổi sắp hai mươi
Thấy hay hay nhưng làm sao cười
Như chuyện lớn lên rồi có vợ
Cuối đời về đất lạnh nằm xuôi
/
Tôi dòm đời khi tuổi sắp hai mươi
Thấy vắng tan hoang ngụt đất trời
Cha mẹ anh em còn đông đủ
Mình tôi sao mối sầu không nguôi
/
Ngập ngừng chân bước con đường vắng
Mây trắng bay lên oà đất trời
Tôi cúi đầu nghe mình nhỏ lệ
Biết chuyện gì rồi cũng buồn thôi
/
Rộng biển trời ơi cái chán chường
Nhạt phèo cả những mối sầu vương
Ôi từng đêm thức nghe xa vắng
Về ngập trong hồn tự bốn phương
/
Tôi dòm đời khi tuổi sắp hai mươi
Đôi lúc còn mơ chuyện trên trời
Đôi lúc còn buồn chuyện xa xôi
Khi biết trước sẽ lui về huỷ diệt
/
Vẫn biết thương nếu cha mẹ chết
Vẫn thấy sầu khi nhớ người yêu
Nhưng tình tôi thì vẫn không đều
Biết sao được hỡi người tôi mến
/
Vâng tình tôi thì cũng không nhiều
Coi tất cả chỉ là bọt nước
Vâng tất cả chỉ là bọt nước.
Thơ Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.
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.
A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh
by Đinh Trường Chinh
Noon waiting alone for someone to turn up
But heaven and earth were neither up nor down
Fell from high up the hill was one guava
The worms devoured one side while I did the other
—–
April 2022
—
Cuối thu ở Phương Bối
Trưa đứng một mình đợi ai lên
Đất trời đâu có dưới và trên
Đồi cao ổi sót rụng một trái
Dòi ăn một bên ta một bên.
Thơ Nguyễn Đức Sơn
source: nhatbaovanhoa.com
Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.
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.
A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh
falling fire by Đinh Trường Chinh
Composing poetry’s no different from chopping wood
Saying it out loud might upset quite a few people
All you have to do is put on a pair of shorts and bend over
So if something happened to fall on you, you could simply flick it off
—–
April 2022
—
Kinh nghiệm riêng
Mần thơ ôi giống hệt bửa củi
Nhưng nói ra nhiều người sẽ tủi
Nên mặc quần đùi đứng khom lưng
Có gì rớt vô ta dễ phủi
thơ Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.
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.
A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
a drop of the blues by Đinh Trường Chinh
It’s all wrong
Without the devil
How could there be a God
And that’s a truth of this World
No matter how you look at it, it’s all wrong
—–
April 2022
—
Tất cả đều trật lất
Nếu không có quỷ ma
Khó bề thấy được Phật
Đó là sự thật của Trái Đất
Nhưng nghĩ cho cùng tất cả đều trật lất
thơ Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.
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.
A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Art: Đinh Trường Chinh
on top of covid by Đinh Trường Chinh
A maimed cricket
With rickety wings
No one cared about
The Ants were all over it at one summer’s end
All alone in this ugly World
Dead amongst the bamboo shoots
—–
April 2022
—
Cảnh đời
Có một con dế què
Cánh mòn đập rè rè
Không ai nghe
Kiến bu trần trụi cuối hè
Một mình trên Trái Đất màu mè
Nằm chết trong lùm tre
Thơ Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.
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.
A poem in Vietnamese by Nguyễn Đức Sơn
Translation: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Fall by Đinh Trường Chinh
A puddle of holy water
babe, I will come unannounced
dry mouth and the point of ecstasy farfetched
a night in the bushes in the foetal position
you’ve yet peed and my spirit was already wet
—–
April 2022
—
Vũng nước thánh
anh sẽ đến bất ngờ ai biết trước
miệng khô rồi nẻo cực lạc xa xôi
ôi một đêm bụi cỏ dáng thu người
em chưa đái mà hồn anh đã ướt
—
(in trong tập “Đêm nguyệt động”)
source thivien.net
Nguyễn Đức Sơn, the poet was born on November 18, 1937, in Du Khanh village, Thanh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province, originally from Thua Thien Hue. He began writing poetry very early with the pen name Sao Trên Rừng, and other pen names like Sơn Núi. On the morning of June 11, 2020, passed away at the age of 83.
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 