Why does the moon appear to be flicker under water? Let the fish swim around looking for it
Dr. Trinh Quoc Thang, an eminent poet from Vietnam, the Land of Blue Dragon, shares his four poems
Dr. Trinh Quoc Thang from Vietnam, the Professor of HUCE Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, is Member of Hanoi Writers’ Association and Vietnam Writers’ Association. He is winner of the literary award from Association of Literature and Arts of Vinh Phuc Province in 2000 for the collection of poems “Thesis and you” published by Literature publishing house in 1998.
MOON AND FISH
Why does the moon appear to be flicker under water?
Let the fish swim around looking for it
As the moon are caught, it vanished into water
As swimming away, the moon rounded back, gentle
Moon and fish, in the sky and under water
Shall never be able to meet
For the moon’s aspiration is so high up there
Its illusion, on the other hand, is so close
That is why fish swims into hope
In a lifetime search for the moon
Dreamy fish or illusory moon
Waste this life in vain for incapable of fishing the moon out.
***
BIRD AND CAGE
Little Oriental skylark
Lives in a cage that is huge
It has space to sing
Sing all day long
Big cuckoo
Lives in a small cage
Cramped, makes the bird bound
In sadness, it clucks
A man caught that
He then switched the two cages
Small bird go to smaller cage
Big one go to bigger cage
But how strange, since then
Seems to be fair but
The cuckoo only jumps
Little Oriental skylark, only flies.
***
FLOWERS IN THE DESERT
In the dry desert under burning sun
The flowers still blossom with all their hearts
No bees, no butterflies, no passengers
The splendid colors flicker
And so flower blooms, blooms for no one
So hot the sand, so hard the rock
Flower must blooms, simple as that
For the flower itself has always been before.
***
YOU AND SPRING
To the edge of frigid
I see the sun rising
To the end of pain
I see a peaceful joy
To the end of time
I see you and spring.
(Translated into English by Vo Hoang Long)
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