my translation or rewrite of Vietnamese poetry

 

THU Autumn and yellow flowers...the four seasons

BON MUA (nhan doc cau tho cua chi Hoai Niem ve hoa vang duoi nang thu)

"những ṇụ hoa vàng dưới nắng thu,"

trước khi đông đến toả sương mù,

rồi xuân trở lại, mừng năm mới,

ao ước chi xuân, chẳng đợi chờ

Năm trước hoa kia có đón mời,

vàng thu vẫn thế, vẫn mình tôi

và đông vẫn đến, trong mưa tuyết ..,

một khoảng thời gian, một tuổi đời..."

And here is my 5 minutes' translation (rewriting these verses into English)

a few yellow flowers under autumn sun

before winter comes with its coat of fog

then spring will arrive to mark a brand new year

hopeless wishes for springtime, do I care to fear?

Looking back at yellow autumn last year, those yellow flowers of the last season

golden bright as they were, they have not changed my solitude

And yes, memory of last winter, all such sparkling white snow

a gap of time?

one more year has just passed me by

DNN Oct 2016

REWRITE

THOSE YELLOW FLOWERS UNDER AUTUMN SUN

A few yellow flowers under autumn sun

before winter comes with its coat of fog

Then spring will arrive to mark a brand-new year

hopeless wishes for springtime, do I care to fear?

Looking back at those yellow flowers of the last season:

Bright as they were, they haven't warmed my reflection

All such sparkling gold hasn't filled the gap of time,

Yet, one more year has just passed me by

nnd (c)Oct. 2023

artwork: the digital pix i took of the carolina jasmine next to my iron fence...my home in texas

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1MinhNgoc Nguyen

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