Page 102 - Dragon&Fairy in Poetry

Dragon & Fairy In Poetry

CHOLON
Original “Chợ Lớn” by NGUYỄN PHÚ LONG

That was not indeed the splendid Hangzhou Chinese Town,
But there were also gold-signed high restaurants at the crown.

Nice cheongsam clad girls ogling at you ready to participate;
Stagging patrons everywhere indulged in drink to dissipate;
Clarinets' sound sobbed plaintively to wear out your health:
“One King's Night” was it, who were to regret their wealth!

But the Y-shaped Three-Pier Bridge stream witnessed strife;
Grass dried up, river drained off, amid the two ways of life:
The war broke out that year in all directions fire and sword,
Streets and districts ruined, panic-stricken people floored.
The indecisive clouds wavered hanging in the sky to perch,
There! Over there the Cross on top of Father Tam's Church...

Alas, anywhere in our beloved Vietnam bore does not bate;
There are shine and rain, humans resign themselves to fate.
However, the more you reminisce the less you are
merry;
Ups and downs each page of history would pitilessly
bury.

Translation by THANH-THANH

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