Tag: phamcongthien

Rain | Phạm Công Thiện

Rain in the Old Quarter, photography by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

A poem in Vietnamese by Phạm Công Thiện
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm
Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

How could a storm upon the branches hesitate
How could a sky divide soulmates
How could a cuckoo be so sad that it couldn’t crow
How could anything forget the rain may fly or flow

Mưa



Có mưa dính muộn trên cành cây
Có đâu trời bắt phải chia tay
Có chim tu hú buồn không gáy
Có gì quên hết mưa còn bay

Nguồn: Phạm Công Thiện, Trên tất cả đỉnh cao là lặng im, NXB Văn hoá Sài Gòn, 2009
—

Phạm Công Thiện, the poet, Buddhist philosopher, and scholar, under the name of Nguyên Tánh was born on June 1st, 1941 in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam. He left Vietnam in 1970, lived in Israel, Germany, then for a while in France. In 1983, he moved to the United States, settled in Los Angeles, and became a professor of Buddhism at the College of Buddhist Studies. He passed away on August 3rd, 2011 in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

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.

Let’s just say | Phạm Công Thiện

A poem in Vietnamese by Phạm Công Thiện
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Bella. Photography: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Let’s just say it’s poetry
Composed sometime ago
For a little lady
Someone I knew, no
Not at all

Xin gọi



Xin gọi đại là thơ
Làm lúc nào chẳng nhớ
Cho một cô gái nhỏ
Chưa từng gặp bao giờ

Nguồn: Phạm Công Thiện, Trên tất cả đỉnh cao là lặng im, NXB Văn hoá Sài Gòn, 2009

Phạm Công Thiện, the poet, Buddhist philosopher, and scholar, under the name of Nguyên Tánh was born on June 1st, 1941 in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam. He left Vietnam in 1970, lived in Israel, Germany, then for a while in France. In 1983, he moved to the United States, settled in Los Angeles, and became a professor of Buddhism at the College of Buddhist Studies. He passed away on August 3rd, 2011 in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

[Source: thivien.net]

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.

Sadness | Phạm Công Thiện

A poem in Vietnamese by Phạm Công Thiện
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

There’s a sadness in the air
It hovers like a curse
There’s a sadness back then
To never meet again

There’s a sadness in the day after that
Where the pixie disrobed
Her tiny breasts are shy and bold
Pungent with the red hot scent of moonlight

There’s a sadness in dreams
As the pixie buttoned up
Leaking rain through the peach canopy
To never meet or again see

Buồn



Có chuyện buồn trên cao
Phù phép nổi lào rào
Có chuyện buồn hôm nào
Thôi hết còn gặp nhau

Có chuyện buồn hôm sau
Có nàng tiên cởi áo
Đôi vú nhỏ nghẹn ngào
Thơm nóng đỏ trăng sao

Có chuyện buồn chiêm bao
Nàng tiên cài khuy áo
Mưa dột mấy rừng đào
Thôi hết còn gặp nhau…

Nguồn: Phạm Công Thiện, Trên tất cả đỉnh cao là lặng im, NXB Văn hoá Sài Gòn, 2009

Phạm Công Thiện, the poet, Buddhist philosopher, and scholar, under the name of Nguyên Tánh was born on June 1st, 1941 in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam. He left Vietnam in 1970, lived in Israel, Germany, then for a while in France. In 1983, he moved to the United States, settled in Los Angeles, and became a professor of Buddhism at the College of Buddhist Studies. He passed away on August 3rd, 2011 in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

[Source: thivien.net]

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.

PHẠM CÔNG THIỆN

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

In Vietnamese by Phạm Công Thiện
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Phạm Công Thiện, the poet, Buddhist philosopher, and scholar, under the name of Nguyên Tánh was born on June 1st, 1941 in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam. He left Vietnam in 1970, lived in Israel, Germany, then for a while in France. In 1983, he moved to the United States, settled in Los Angeles, and became a professor of Buddhism at the College of Buddhist Studies. He passed away on August 3rd, 2011 in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

[Source: thivien.net]

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.

Girls | Phạm Công Thiện

A poem in Vietnamese by Phạm Công Thiện
Translator: Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Minh Tâm by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Girls far away are like dreams
Closer they’re these odd things
Eyes closed they’re like aliens
Eyes open: gosh, they’re startling
—
May 2022
—–

Con gái



Càng xa càng mông lung
Tới gần vẫn lạ lùng
Nhắm mắt sao lạ quá
Mở ra: ồ không cùng

Nguồn: Phạm Công Thiện, Trên tất cả đỉnh cao là lặng im, NXB Văn hoá Sài Gòn, 2009

Phạm Công Thiện, the poet, Buddhist philosopher, and scholar, under the name of Nguyên Tánh was born on June 1st, 1941 in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam. He left Vietnam in 1970, lived in Israel, Germany, then for a while in France. In 1983, he moved to the United States, settled in Los Angeles, and became a professor of Buddhism at the College of Buddhist Studies. He passed away on August 3rd, 2011 in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

[Source: thivien.net]

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.