AUTUMN WAITING – Poetry from Vietnam

 

Le Gia Hoai

Born in 1977 in Vinh Phuc province, poet Le Gia Hoai is member of the Literature and Arts Association of Vinh Phuc Province, and working for it. He has published many poems, essays in local and state literature newspapers and magazines. He has won a lot of literature awards.

 

 

AUTUMN WAITING

You might not be back in time

When autumn gracefully arrives

I would be by the quiet river

Saying goodbye to summer sky

 

Autumn has a couple of messages

Sending all the way to you

Like a melody of a broken heart

Singing you a song of goodnight

 

Sending you some sun drops

Yellow on the roof in town

Trembled by falling leaves

The night dream with footprints

 

Sending you color of daisy

Delicate on familiar footpath

Milkwood pine dangling

An afternoon without naming

 

Sending you endless waves

In the rising tidal breeze

Soft sand is caressed by sea

Calling your name for days

 

Being in a distance

Do you know of a reason?

When autumn softly breathe

Waiting for you with its wreath

***

ONCE UPON A TIME

Once you were a bit gloomy

The wind changing for winter

My shirt was covered in mud

It’s freezing all over the field

 

Once you were crying

It started to rain

My hair fair from sunburnt

Lightning across from above

 

You are now a married woman

Away from a long distance

Our fun memory has gone

I couldn’t be there to comfort

 

Our first love fading away

Tears of the past we save

Do you cry sometimes?

Counting sad drops in a rhyme!

***

MY EYES

The sea is calm with no waves

As flat as a carpet of sky

The day you’re back to the sea

Waves rising from your eyes

 

The forest is calm with no wind

Only trees and leaves in silence

You happen to glance at mountain

Forest is stirred by furious storm

 

There is no sunlight at all

Only clouds drifting ignorantly

You gaze towards the universe

Gentle sunlight drops its silk

 

My soul is desolate and barren

Loneliness filled this transient world

Only glancing at me in half

You teach my heart how to yearn

***

THE COLOR OF NEW SPRING

A peaceful blue sky

Full of sentimental memory

Peach blossom blooming

Spring has already been here

 

Look at a yellow apricot

Its fragrance in the alley

Urging the village children

Welcoming spring to their door

 

The street corner in bloom

On the tree of youthfulness

Calling our soul and heart

Back to the yearning town

 

Look at the dancing sunlight

On my mother’s garden

A feeling of butterfly touch

Love the color of new spring

***

COLOR AUTUMN

The day I wore a silk shirt

In the damned sunny afternoon

Autumn colors on each leaf

Pouring gold on the street roof

 

Hope the day doesn’t go too fast

Do not erase the footprints

On my way back to the station to wait

Rainy cold wet sunset

 

Don’t bring any memories

Fading since the end

Let the hundred-year song speak

Full of fragrance on good lips

 

I keep dreaming about it

A place full of children’s songs

Leave me alone with nostalgia

Hide yourself in your dreams!

___________________

(Translated into English by Vo Thi Nhu Mai)