Home » Translations, Sáng Tác, Thơ, From Vietnamese Email bài này

The Old Man’s Collection of Love Poems

♦ Translated by: ♦ 0 comment ♦ 14.02.2023

(Translated from Trần Thiên Thị’s Vietnamese original “Thơ tình của một ông già”)

 

 

1.

you turned up with an entire springtime
squeezed yourself in the middle of a chilly winter
the fear hid inside a verse
complete sadness dropped from a startled poet’s hand

 

2.

Only rays of sunlight were left alone
alone to be themselves
a golden yellow drape across the land

you turned up
stirring a suspicious heart
proclaimed that spring was something real

 

3.

grass
cowering through the storms
kept for themselves
the yellow flames of summer
yellow hues of autumn
and today was a rendezvous in every step
blooming white flowers
on both sides of the road

 

4.

My long gone honeymoon
greets you with an old
oblivious heart
should I be happy or sad
amongst all these sentiments
will you take with you
my last moment of peace

 

5.

you turned up as though you took the wrong turn
an off-hand smile
the grass in the garden couldn’t work out whether they should be
just as green as once upon a time
as joyous beneath your feet
because of me the new hatchling sings
a consolation for the days to come

 

6.

there’s no trauma in such surrender
the joy exchanged through our lips
the laughter taught through our eyes
the old flesh will learn what it is like to be sunkissed
we shall learn to love warmly in silence

 

7.

the verses as green as once upon a time
as pure and fresh cutting through the sadness
You stepping into my garden
your happiness fed the grass and me
since then we have not stopped fruiting
fragrant and ripe
ready for your open hands

 

8.

and you should walk
as though the spring would morph into summer
I will stay and be the last person standing
in the middle of a verse waiting for your return
the spring grass is still as green as the last season
my heart ready for the new lunar year

 

9.

I will read out loud the verses
written on the rose apple and tangerine leaves
the melancholy notes long and short
a tale of a pair of doves
day and night loved each other
so you will know I will always be here
I will always remember
that you are like an intangible verse
a full stop at the end of a new beginning

 

10.

but my dear
discarding the worries will it keep us together
not unlike a leaf holding on to the wind
and to never lose each other
confidently you should face the past
where the grass are bound to meet each other
the greenness of green of those years in passing

 

11.

don’t be sad because we may have missed each other
time could never fall beyond love
in the minutes the plane landed late
the noise will help us grow together
the growing sweetness upon lips
the scent of wine for tomorrow’s inebriation
the wine we serve each other
through sombre winters to come

 

12.

sit down
let me massage your feet
you must be exhausted treading through all that love
so many seasons of green and yellow leaves
on your shoulders
that burden of love
leaves us with a smile for the first month of the year
the lingering warm heart of December

 

13.

a party stripped bare as the sun sets on the other side of the mountain
as heaven and earth unite
we were each other’s gift
night, a cover for our bashful exchange
couldn’t hid the odd giggle
nor could it stopped those fingers fiddling with the buttons on our shirts
we had each other

 

14.

I’m awake in the middle of the night to compose a poem for you
a poem like a gift
words and letters rolling over our skin
a poem like a dress shirt
to cover up the bruises and scratch marks where we may have loved
it is the same poem you edited
through all those sadness in our life

 

15.

the echoes of your voice resounded
unclear muffling like the calling of the rain
I’m here as always, noting every word
words of the rain and all the mesmerising moments
hidden in the green grass for safe keeping
so I may read it out loud for you one day
when we again meet

 


16.

you are my dear
the poem I didn’t know how to start
now I know not how to stop writing
the odour of flesh have now turned into fragrant fruit
ripe and fragrant across the land
fresh budding wheat
the first heat of a young woman
so if I may
ask you if I’m allowed to grow old?

 

17.

I will go and look for you
I will hitchhike across the land
soon the rain will stop and the winter dries up
I will prune and feed our garden in time for the harvest
time enough to go and find you
the jungle bursting with colours ready for a new spring
I will carry you on my back through tunnels and abandon lots

 

18.

the entanglement of your position in my life
even in your absence
you’re complicit in each blade of grass
your green hues indispensable
as I sit and watch the blossom buds open
as though in the days to come you will fully bloom
in yellowest of hues

 

19.

you’re a bird that could never deny
forever bright
amidst a garden filled with birdsongs
I accepted your complicity
like the time you messaged
please stay
for in front of us is paradise

 

20.

I numbered my verses
the way they name the roads
the way I numbered all my scars
each footprint
each residing spot
so that in all that mess I may reserve for myself
through the age old cold northern wind is a real springtime

 

21.

On your lips I will leave a verse
through the chilly Northern wind
may it be the heat for your rosy cheeks
in front of us will be a springtime
smile my love
let us be a letter with good news
upon my tomorrow’s arrival
like upon my return is the discovery
of a poem blooming on your lips

 

22.

The wind never asks for payment
because we have played our part in the creation of the rain and sunlight
the creation of the seasons in changing colours
in new clothes
like the day I had to wade across the river

again and again I crave for the road
like a verse with the desire to fall on the white pages
so we must wait for each other my love
like there’s no place like home for the holiday

 

23.

We pictured each other
the way people would look for signs of Santa Claus
in our eyes the boundlessness dreams of the sea
adorn our hair the softness of rivers
to wake up and find the cockcrow unrecognisable mid-the-night

 

24.

Please be as generous as the land and the night
the innumerable tiny critters
boundless tiny tiny buds budding
lowering in unison the sinful loads
as I lean into you
us leaning into each other to button up a new shirt
covet for each with the warmth
dissipating with the chill of the Northern winter winds
feigning off the terrors of the night

 

25.

I wonder if you have yet found yourself in between my sloppy lines of poetry
though the long lines noted on cigarette box often carelessly
falls out beyond springtime
thirty years of constantly moving and writing
the hair on my head now coloured with dew
and yet the poetry in your hands is still
like springtime

please sit down right by my side and see
how one’s heart may change its cover
made anew

 

 

 

.

Articles by Trần Thiên Thị

Comments


Xin vui lòng bày tỏ trách nhiệm và sự tương kính trong việc sử dụng ngôn ngữ khi đóng góp ý kiến. Da Màu dành quyền từ chối những ý kiến cực đoan, thiếu tôn trọng bạn đọc hoặc không sử dụng email thật. Chúng tôi sẽ liên lạc trực tiếp với tác giả nếu ý kiến cần được biên tập.

@2006-2025 damau.org ♦ Da Màu Magazine
Tạp Chí Văn Chương Da Màu
Log in | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS)