Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 2, 2012

Liberal Translations of Vietnamese Pop Songs

-Liberal Translations of Vietnamese Pop Songs 
Rain Drops

On banana leaves
Run off like a river of tears
A mother sheds
On her son’s lifeless face
On mango leaves
Evaporate with sweet fragrance
When a young wife welcomes home
Her war-weary husband





Tell Me


How many rice stalks in a field
bends in a river
layers in the cloud
leaves in a forest
How to stop the winds
Tell me where they came
And where they go
How old is the moon
So I can say for certain
What I long to tell you



Welcoming


Your hesitant footsteps
trace the earthen levee
shaded by swaying bamboos.
Amber setting sunlight
on mustard greens
greets you.
Mama waits for you at the fish pond,
her hands see you as in dreams
wishing that her eyes could.
Wildflowers bloom along rice paddies,
water buffalos roll in mud,
children smile for you.



Gull’s Wings


I have no promises to offer you
I have no words to entice you
When the warm sun lifts you
a siren song lures you
you leave the rocky shore
circle above crystal white corals
into the vast blue world
Oh my dreams and the gull’s wings
beyond reach
and the ocean’s roar.



Sources: “Giọt Mưa Trên Lá,” “Đố Ai,” and “Ngày Trở Về” by Phạm Duy; “Bay Đi Cánh Chim Biển” by Đức Huy

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