At the beginning of summer

The crape myrtle flowers are deep purple

Profoundly beautiful, yet sad.

Bui Dang Sinh is a seasoned poet from Vietnam  

Vietnamese poet Mr. Bui Dang Sinh has been an active member of the Vinh Phuc Provincial Literature and Arts Association since 1975. He served as Chief of the Poetry Department for the Vinh Phuc Literature and Arts Magazine and also worked as a member of the Executive Committee of the Vinh Phuc Provincial Literature and Arts Association. He is currently the Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Poetry Club, playing a significant role at the heart of Vietnam’s literary community.

His literary achievements have been widely recognized with honors such as the B Award from the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations, the Hung Vuong Literature and Arts Award, and the Vinh Phuc Provincial Literature and Arts Awards in 2010, 2015, and 2020. He also received the Medal for the Cause of Vietnamese Literature and Arts, established during the term of novelist Nguyen Dinh Thi, when he served as Chairman of the Union. To date, poet Bui Dang Sinh has published nine poetry collections, establishing himself as an important voice in contemporary Vietnamese poetry.

Crape myrtle flower

(Dedicated to Kieu Bich Hau — Author of the short story “Virgin Hair”)

At the beginning of summer

The crape myrtle flowers are deep purple

Profoundly beautiful, yet sad

Your eyes gleam with a strange color

As if they were clinging to the sunset

 

In every person’s life

How many hidden struggles are there

That cannot be spoken to loved ones

These things follow us to the realm of death

Making even the closest friends hesitate

 

The real and the illusory

Depend on each moment’s perception

The crape myrtle flowers fall…

Keeping their perfect shape!

 

Is it not eerie how human blood can turn purple

No matter what, you are still a virgin…

 

(New Year’s Day 2010)

(HFT’s English version)

***

목백일홍(木百日紅)

(단편소설 「처녀의 머리카락」의 작가 키이우 비크 하우에게 바침)

여름이 막 시작될 무렵

목백일홍(木百日紅) 꽃은 깊은 자줏빛으로 피어나네

아름다움이 깊을수록 슬픔도 짙어지고

그대의 눈동자는 낯선 빛을 머금은 채

마치 저녁놀에 기대어 있는 것만 같았지

 

사람의 한평생 속에는

사랑하는 이에게조차 말하지 못하는

숱한 내밀한 고통이 숨어 있네

그것들은 죽음의 언저리까지 따라붙어

가까운 친구조차 망설이게 하지

 

실재와 허상은

순간순간의 마음에 따라 달라지는 법

목백일홍(木百日紅) 꽃은 떨어져도…

그 자태를 보존하네!

 

인간의 피가 보랏빛으로 변할 수 있다니

참으로 서늘한 일

그러나 무엇이 있든

그대는 여전히 ‘순결한 존재’…

 

(2010년 새해 첫날)

(HFT 영어본 번역)

*** 

Silence

What is there between us, lost or found

Love fading on the lips, silenced now

The greatest song

Is wordless

 

At the very place we used to meet

A dove coos in the late winter sun

Spring has arrived

But you have not

 

You did not come

The old days turn to distance

The silent song of our lips

 

Silence

 

When will you suddenly shine

To warm my love again?

***

The Bird’s song

The street is thick with people

Suddenly, a clear, sharp bird song

Then, silence

Then, suddenly sinking

Dissolving into the clamor

 

The bird beats its wings, struggling

Longing for tall trees

And the spacious sky

 

But the bird keeps beating its wings

Still inside the cage

 

The shepherd’s song

And the carol of dawn

When will they ever be heard again?

***

The Place of ice

My heart is beating, is beating

Take it out into my hand

I find it soft and warm

 

Soft and warm

Soft and warm

But that is also the place of ice

 

Like a paradox

A paradox

That is real

In the mind

***

Concept

Too small is tiny

Too large is immense

A person is tiny

But a boundless ambition

That is it. Large and Small

Still within one form

 

The old man and the child

Are they one or two?

 

Broken off then reconciled

From yesterday to today

 

The universe is so vast

Yet within our reach

 

We joke with ourselves: We are walking

Only a shoe sole away from the planet.

***

Profound depth

Profoundly deep and profoundly blue

The vast lake surface, waves spread quickly

A person walks in silence on the deserted path

Tart wine tilted, swirling profoundly around

 

Profoundly blue and profoundly deep

A little pique, what harm can it do

Your eyes are like a waveless lake

Why do they keep drowning me over my head

 

Please don’t be so deep… a bird’s cry

The hidden path of thought, the wind is against

A slow, astonished rhythm when the knees tire

A flower that knows how to weep amidst love

***

Flower and Butterfly

The flower grows up from the earth

The butterfly flutters around

The butterfly rests on the blue branch

The tree suddenly has more flowers

 

Flower and butterfly merge as one

Flower and butterfly are now alike

But look, the butterfly flies away

The flower is bewildered, withering in sorrow

 

Why doesn’t the butterfly grow roots

Why doesn’t the flower know how to fly

The way of life has always been so

Sweetness and bitterness

_____________________

Read: Bilingual Colors – Poetry from Vietnam