by Vu Dinh
Lien (1913-1996)
With the peach blossoming
every year
One can see the
old master re-appear
Spreading his calligraphy
ink, and red paper to write
On the street crowded
with passers-by
So many employed
his writing-for-hire
Watching him write,
what a sight!
His dexterous hands
stroke the lines
A phoenix at dancing,
a dragon in flight!
Decreasing are the
ones who have hired
Gone, as the years
have silently gone by
No longer in crimson
is the paper in sadness
The ink plate retains
the ink in stillness.
The old master, still
sitting on the side
None of the passers-by
recognized
The paper sits,
with brown leaves covering
From open sky, a
drizzle is falling.
This year the peach
again blossom
But the old master
does not come
Oh, the souls of
the good old days
Where, where are
they nowadays?
Translated
from Vietnamese into English
by Hương Cau
Thomas TN Cao
on 06 May 2019
in British Columbia, Canada