KHAU VAI

by Nguyen The Ky

Translated into English by Nguyen Thuy Hoa,
with revisions by John Liddy

Spring is having a long goodbye on the mountain top
Before summer blinds the alley with golden sunlight.
Booc-ma has bloomed hurriedly this morning.
The sound of someone’s syrinx announces the forest.

Does someone go back to see someone?
It is March in the Khau Vai love market
For a dating appointment, no one to buy or sell
On this unviolated patch where nine old heels

Steadfastly wait for a determined ten
Another attempt at half-finished first love,
A chance to rectify mistakes, make memories
Come alive in the afternoon like red fruit

Maturing on the tree before it turns green
Again, like the perennial flow of river
Accumulating on its bank, destiny filled
Or unfulfilled, twists and turns of life.

Oh gracious Khau Vai! Bless the silent
Whisperings in the little corner.

Note: All versions in English by John Liddy from drafts in English by Nguyen Thuy Hoa, based on original poems in Vietnamese by the poets Ly Thai Phuong and Nguyen The Ky.