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POETRY/THƠ

Lê Vĩnh Tài | Flying high (251)

Lê Vĩnh Tài, the Vietnamese poet and translator, born 1966 in Buon Ma Thuot, Daklak, Vietnam. The retired doctor is still a resident of the Western Highlands, a businessman in Buon Ma Thuot.

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the poet and translator, born 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.

By Lê Vĩnh Tài, translated by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Ngày xưa nàng thích bay cao như những thiên thần. Nàng quên khi bay cao thì ánh nắng thật khủng khiếp. 

Nàng cứ tưởng ai cũng mang những vết sẹo bỏng trên gương mặt như nàng.

—

Long ago she liked to fly as high as the angels. But she forgot how terrible the sunlight was flying that close to the Sun.

She thought like her we also have these sunburned scars on our faces.

_____

MARCH 2021

By Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

There's magic in translating a body of work from one language to another.

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