Ho Xuan Huong

Are you seventeen or eighteen
(1)Let me cherish you by all means
Thin or thick you display a triangle,
Large or small I hold you with one hand

Screw the fate that makes you share a man
One cuddles under cotton blankets; the other's cold
Every now and then, well, maybe or maybe not,once or twice a month, oh, it's like nothing
You try to stick to it like a fly on ricebut the...

Where are you going, my dear little greenhorns
Here,
I'll teach you how to turn a verse or two Young drones sucking at withered flowers,
Little goats brushing horns against a fence

My body is both white and round
In water I may sink or swim
The hand the kneads me may be rough,
But I still shall keep my true-red heart

Lampwick turned up, the room glows white
The looms moves easily all night longas feet work and push below
Nimbly the shuttle flies in and out,wide or narrow, big or small, sliding in snug
Long or short, it glides out smoothly

If you want to pick flowers, you have to hike
Climbing up, don't worry about your weary bones
Pluck the low branches, pull down the high
Enjoy alike the spent blossoms, the tight buds

Not a drop of rain for this dry heat
Come, girls, let's go bail water
Let's drag our delta-shaped buckets to that huge square field where our bodies can pulse to the water's lapping
Crouched, straining to catch each trickle from the...

Peekaboo we used to play;my hands covered my face,your hands covered your face,incredible, there we were gone
That is what we play now, yourhands on my face and my handson your eyes
Incrediblehow we disappear into each other

A cliff face
Another
And still a third
Who was so skilled to carve this craggy scene:the cavern's red door, the ridge's narrow cleft,the black knoll bearded with little mosses

Praise whoever raised these polesfor some to swing while others watch
A boy pumps, then arcs his back
The shapely girl shoves up her hips
Four pink trousers flapping hard,two pairs of legs stretched side by side

I am like a jackfruit on the tree
To taste you must plug me quick, while fresh:the skin rough, the pulp thick, yes,but oh,
I warn you against touching —the rich juice will gush and stain your
Translated by Nguyen Ngoc Bich

Heaven and earth brought forth this rocky massits face cut by a deep crevassecrack's dark mouth shagged with mosspines rocking in wind rush
Here sweet water spatters downand the path into the cleft is dark
Praise whoever sculpted stoneth...