Quatrains of Rumi

Nicolette has been posting up poetry and so far, each piece has been perfect for me in someway. Her latest selection comes from Rumi, a 13th Century Persian poet.

Below are her selected quatrains and my attempt at translating them into Vietnamese.

A night full of talking that hurts,
my worst held-back secrets: Everything
has to do with loving and not loving.
This night will pass.
Then we have work to do.

Một đêm đầy tâm sự đau đớn,
Những bí mật xấu nhất ta đã dằn lại: Mọi chuyện
Đèo là chuyện yêu va không yêu.
Đêm nay sẽ qua.
Rồi ta có việc để làm.


After being with me one whole night,
you ask how I live when you're not here.

Badly, frantically, like a fish trying to breathe
dry sand. You weep and say,
But you choose that.

Sau một đêm suốt bên anh,
Em hỏi anh sống thế nào khi vắn em.

Bối rối cuống cuồng như cá gắn thở
cát khô. Em khóc và nói,
Nhưng anh chọn vậy.

Distant Love

Although not visual, I've translated a Trinh Cong Son song.

Distant Love (Tình Xa)

What days and months have gone by whilst I've sat still
What love has gone away whilst I've remained here
Love after love has left me like little streams
O little streams, the promises were the rains

As my footsteps head home, late at night I survey the streets of
an abandoned city, as once, over an affair
How would you know that life is so sad
Sometimes I hear myself

Listening to bleak waves lap against a frozen life
To my soul: wind, sand, transient things drift back

Sometimes, on the roof of our love, I hear raindrops
Howling love, silent love
Sorrow howling after sorrow, beside the deep ravine

Tomorrow morning, what's there to see
Oh I'll still have my friends
What drink won't still burn, whilst I'm still intoxicated by you
Since the day our love became like a heavy-headed highland forest
O steadily falling sad sounds, I realise my life is already mossed over.

Trinh Cong Son
1966-1967