Phan Huyen Thu
PROMETEO
Revista Latinoamericana de Poesía
Número 81-82. Julio de 2008.
A SHORT ANTHOLOGY
OF VIETNAMESE POETRY
Phan Huyen Thu
1972
Moving Along the Edge of Summer
Moving along the edge of summer
An early moon bends the first third of the month
Gaudily fawning
vain wild flowers trail the rails of a provincial station
On the roof of a forgotten train car
The odor of sunlight sleeps deeply
Because of an immortal and tuneful ideal
a lovelorn cricket trips over a dew drop
A lizard warrior clucks its tongue and drinks up the night
dreams a thin dream of mosquito wings
Stringing up faith a female spider
clasps a sack of saturated eggs
Having drank a dream by mistake
My wooden lizard sobbed all last night
Leading itself along the edge of summer
Finding a way to fall.
Translated by Linh Dinh.
Phan Huyền Thư (born 1972) graduated with a degree in literature from Hanoi University, received the 1997 Poetry Prize from Song Huong magazine. She is currently a poet, an actress, and a script editor for the Documentary and Scientific Film Studio in Hanoi.