As we are continuing our journey in Vietnam, here is some beautiful Vietnamese Poetry for you to enjoy for your tea hour.
Mùa xuân chín
Trong làn nắng ửng: khói mơ tan,
Đôi mái nhà tranh lấm tấm vàng.
Sột soạt gió trêu tà áo biếc,
Trên giàn thiên lí. Bóng xuân sang.
Sóng cỏ xanh tươi gợn tới trời
Bao cô thôn nữ hát trên đồi;
– Ngày mai trong đám xuân xanh ấy,
Có kẻ theo chồng bỏ cuộc chơi…
Tiếng ca vắt vẻo lưng chừng núi,
Hổn hển như lời của nước mây,
Thầm thĩ với ai ngồi dưới trúc,
Nghe ra ý vị và thơ ngây…
Khách xa gặp lúc mùa xuân chín,
Lòng trí bâng khuâng sực nhớ làng:
– “Chị ấy, năm nay còn gánh thóc
Dọc bờ sông trắng nắng chang chang?”
Ripe Spring
In pure sunlight: dreams dissolve,
A pair of thatched roofs speckled gold.
The teasing wind rustles emerald clothes,
On fragrant arbor. See spring unfold.
Verdant grass waves ripple to the sky.
Around the village, girls singing on high.
– Perhaps tomorrow from that youthful throng,
One will follow a husband, bid her game goodbye…
Sound of singing on the mountain,
Soft as words of water and clouds…
Murmuring with those sitting under bamboo,
Such delicate and innocent sounds…
Guests from afar meet at ripe spring,
Hearts and minds suddenly long for home:
– This year, does she still carry rice,
Along the riverbank under the bright blazing sun?
Đây thôn Vĩ Dạ
Why aren’t you back to Vĩ Hamlet
To watch the sun rising over the areca trees?
Whose garden is so lush in jade-like green
And bamboo leaves cover whose firm square face?
The wind and cloud each follows its own way;
The stream is cheerless, the corn flowers sway.
And that boat moored in yond moonlight river
Can it lug its load of moon back tonight?
I dream of one so far away, oh far away;
Your dress is so pure white it’s hard to recognize;
Here fog and smoke obscure so much of the landscape.
How could one tell who is the passionate lover?
Here is Vĩ Dạ Hamlet
Why don’t you return here, to visit Vĩ Hamlet?
To watch the rising sun shine over rows of betel palm trees.
Someone’s garden is lush with jade green color
Bamboo leaves shade across a square face.
Winds chasing winds, clouds following clouds,
A very sad stream flows amidst swaying corn flowers…
Someone’s boat is docked at the moon river pier,
Will it be able to tug the moon home on time tonight?
Dreaming of a far away, far away guest
Your dress is so white that I almost don’t recognize…
At this place, smoky mists blur one’s image
Who knows whose passionate love is still deep?