By Nguyễn Bính, translated by Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

Spring rain (I)

 

I’m the girl by the window, next to my ageing mother 

Weaving silk from one day to another

My homely novice heart in white silk, while mother’s far away,

A merchant at the market in the middle of the day.

 

Spring was drifting in the wind that day,

Flew in layers of neem blossoms, the display. 

The Dang village dance coupe passed by,

Mother said: there’ll be a show in Đoài village tonight.

 

In my heart was the silky thread of a crush.

My tiny fingers paused mid-weave.

Cheeks pink, blushing,

Me thinking of you.

 

All around the neighbourhood the lights were on,

I reached out from beneath the veranda

My hand grew colder in each raindrop,

Thought maybe you might drop in.

 

I quickly asked mother,

Mother: go, tell me everything after.

These words were uttered by the crew members of the good ship Enterprise in the early days of Star Trek, whenever they got “itchy feet” and had to be off somewhere. Scotty was the space ship’s chief engineer, who could always pull something out of the hat when the situation got a little dire. He was a bit of a whizz, and could fix any problem. The Enterprise would have crashed in the very first episode, if it weren’t for him.

Anyway, in the series you could just ask the…