Tag: philosophy

Scabies | Hồ Chí Minh

thơ Hồ Chí Minh
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm dịch

The whole body covered in rich brocades of pinks and reds in six colours
Itchy itches scratching strike a tune
All VIPs covered in rich brocades
Strumming in harmony are cell mates or more so soulmates I say

Lại sang


Mãn thân hồng lục như xuyên cẩm
Thành nhật lao tao tự cổ cầm
Xuyên cẩm tù trung đô quý khách
Cổ cầm nạn hữu tận tri âm

Hồ Chí Minh [1890-1969] Bác Hồ, Uncle Ho, the poet was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969, and as its first prime minister from 1945 to 1955.

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.

Can’t sleep | Hồ Chí Minh

Vietnamese flag on flagpole textile cloth fabric waving on the top sunrise mist fog

thơ Hồ Chí Minh
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm dịch

2am 4am and it was six
tossing and turning all in the mix
8am 10am in a blink
the soul was engulf in a 5 points yellow star

Thụy bất trước


Nhất canh nhị canh hựu tam canh
Triển chuyển bồi hồi thụy bất thành
Tứ ngũ canh thì tài hợp nhãn
Mộng hồn hoàn nhiễu ngũ tiêm tinh.

Hồ Chí Minh [1890-1969] Bác Hồ, Uncle Ho, the poet was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969, and as its first prime minister from 1945 to 1955.

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.

Missing you mate | Hồ Chí Minh

Cô Trâm và bạn Nghĩa

thơ Hồ Chí Minh
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm dịch

By the river we said our goodbyes
See you when the harvest is ripe
Now the rice is harvest the land cleared
I’m incarcerated in a foreign land now that’s something to fear!

Ức hữu


Tích quân tống ngã chí giang tân
Vấn ngã quy kỳ chỉ cốc tân
Hiện tại tân điền dĩ lê hảo
Tha hương ngã tác ngục trung thân

Hồ Chí Minh [1890-1969] Bác Hồ, Uncle Ho, the poet was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969, and as its first prime minister from 1945 to 1955.

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.

Life is a dangerous path | Hồ Chí Minh

Các em Anh Ngữ AVA tặng cô Maria

thơ Hồ Chí Minh
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm dịch

I
Beyond the highest mountain steepest climb
Who could have thought the flattest path was a crime
A tiger in the mountain was nothing
Human on the flattest path meant prison

II
I represent Vietnam
I am an act of diplomacy in China
It’s supposed to be simple not all this trouble
When I’m a “V. I. P.” in their prison

III
I am honest and I have nothing to hide
How could they accused me of being a traitor
It’s not something one take lightly
Harder to take it now so lightly.

Thế lộ nan


I
Tẩu biến cao sơn dữ tuấn nham
Na tri bình lộ cánh nan kham
Cao sơn ngộ hổ chung vô dạng
Bình lộ phùng nhân khước bị giam

II
Dư nguyên đại biểu Việt Nam dân
Nghĩ đáo Trung Hoa kiến yếu nhân
Vô nại phong ba bình địa khởi
Tống dư nhập ngục tác gia tân

III
Trung thành ngã bản vô tâm cứu
Khước bị hiềm nghi tố Hán gian
Xử thế nguyên lai phi dị dị
Nhi kim xử thế cánh nan nan

Hồ Chí Minh [1890-1969] Bác Hồ, Uncle Ho, the poet was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969, and as its first prime minister from 1945 to 1955.

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.

Listening to the sound of rice being pounded in a mortar and pestle | Hồ Chí Minh

Thôn Diên Lão, phography Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

thơ Hồ Chí Minh
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm dịch

pounded over and over again
the grain of rice had to endure the pain
but once the husk is removed and forgotten
the grain of rice is as white as cotton
people in life are much the same
to succeed one have to endure the pain

Văn thung mễ thanh


Mễ bị thung thì hẩn thống khổ
Ký thung chi hậu bạch như miên
Nhân sinh tại thế dã giá dạng
Khốn nan thị nhĩ ngọc thành thiên

Hồ Chí Minh [1890-1969] Bác Hồ, Uncle Ho, the poet was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969, and as its first prime minister from 1945 to 1955.

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.

The little bird’s song was a little odd at dusk | An Thu

Buôn Ma Thuột, by Lê Vĩnh Tài

thơ An Thu
Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm chuyển thể

I’m suddenly surrounded by a startling sadness
The horizon was silent – distant
In white clouds erected – the walls of sadness !

Dusk in abandonment – dusk in a strange land
Time passes in the death of innocence
Upon my shoulders, the sadness in a line, piled atop each other
In remembrance of this tough life embraced the sunset

An entire life in view of the future
Frightful… dear god, right or wrong?

Dusk is about to disappear into the night…
And all I want to do is cry
The confusion – the strangers, I’m stranger than I !
Remember… .
Yes… .
Yes… .
Remember… .
Something had upset me today, maybe .
All these sudden changes: to just remember, to then just forget …
—
June 2022
_

Con chim nhỏ chiều nay hót lạ
Dưng không buồn đứng ngó mông- quanh
Trời bình yên bây giờ xa – đã
Buồn tôi ơi- mây trắng xây thành !

Chiều bơ vơ – chiều nơi đất lạ
Tình thơ ngây đã chết theo ngày
Sầu theo sầu chất nặng trên vai
Ôm hoàng hôn nhớ kiếp đọa đày

Đem thân về ngó suốt tương lai
Hoảng hốt… trời ơi, đúng hay sai?

Chiều sắp vào tối…
Bỗng dưng buồn muốn khóc
Ngơ ngác ngó- lạ người, lạ cả chính ta !
Nhớ….
Nhớ…
Nhớ….
Hôm nay mình hoảng hốt gì hay sao .
Tự dưng nhiều thứ biển đổi: thoạt nhớ, thoạt quên …

An Thu, the poet is from Long Xuyen, Vietnam, she currently lives in Omaha, Nebraska, 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.

Bạn là ai? Tôi chẳng phải là ai! | Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

Bạn là ai? Tôi chẳng phải là ai!
Bạn cũng – chẳng phải là ai – luôn sao?
Là ta đã là một cặp! Đừng cho ai hay nha!
Không thì bạn biết đấy – họ sẽ tống ta ra!

Tiêu điều ôi – khi ta là – Một ai đó!
Thật công khai – như chú Ếch –
Ộp ộp tên bạn – tháng sáu mùa hạ chí –
Trước sự ngưỡng mộ của một cái vũng đầm lầy!

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson [1830-1886] là một nhà thơ người Mỹ. Ít được biết đến trong suốt cuộc đời, bà đã được coi là một trong những nhân vật quan trọng nhất trong nền thơ ca Mỹ. Dickinson sinh ra tại Amherst, Massachusetts, trong một gia đình danh giá có mối quan hệ chặt chẽ với cộng đồng.

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.

on a hill | Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm (21 @ Auburn botanical garden, Australia)

On a hill
I sat very still,
Back against the tree
I saw far as I could see.

Unhappy,
I climbed this very tree
At the top it was windy,
Not shady at all.

It was a summer day,
I then no longer feel so gay.
I fell from atop of that tree,
And even the flees laughed in glee!

ttt
15 September 2014

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.