Spring essence: the Poetry of Hồ Xuân Hương

Spring essence: the Poetry of Hồ Xuân Hương

Mấy năm nay TL được nghe nói nhiều về chuyện thơ Hồ Xuân Hương được dịch sang Anh ngữ trong tập Spring essence, và khá thành công (về mặt thương mại ). Ông Bill Clinton trong chuyến thăm Việt Nam cũng đã rất ''sành điệu'' trích thơ Hồ nữ sĩ. Tuy nhiên cho tới giờ thì cũng chỉ đọc được 2 bài thôi trong tổng số 48 bài được tuyển chọn và dịch.

Nếu anh chị nào có được tập thơ thì có thể vui lòng ''chia sẻ'' với mọi người không? Còn đây là một bài báo nói về chuyện ''bên lề'' tập thơ ''Hồ Xuân Hương:những văn bản thơ Nôm được công bố từ năm 1968'' của GS Nguyễn Ngọc Bích.

http://www.viethoc.org/eholdings/HXH-VanbanNom04-03.pdf

TOC
Acknowledgments.....................................................ix
ca dao by John Balaban...............................................1
Introduction.........................................................2
Autumn Landscape....................................................18
Confession (I)......................................................20
Offering Betel......................................................22
Confession (II).....................................................24
Lament for the Prefect of Vïnh-Tu''''''''''''''''ò''''''''''''''''ng..............................26
Lament for Commissioner Cóc.........................................28
Confession (III)....................................................30
The Floating Cake...................................................32
On Sharing a Husband................................................34
Jackfruit...........................................................36
River Snail.........................................................38
Tavern by a Mountain Stream.........................................40
Teasing Chiêu-Hô....................................................42
Chiêu-Hô''''''''''''''''s Reply....................................................44
Three-Mountain Pass.................................................46
Weaving at Night....................................................48
On a Portrait of Two Beauties.......................................50
The Unwed Mother....................................................52
Swinging............................................................54
Male Member.........................................................56
Girl without a ***..................................................58
The Paper Fan.......................................................60
Picking Flowers.....................................................62
The Wellspring......................................................64
Cats................................................................66
Consoling a Young Widow.............................................68
The Pharmacist''''''''''''''''s Widow Mourns His Death.............................70
The Con***ion of Women..............................................72
Village Schoolmaster................................................74
The Retired Doctor..................................................76
Young Scholars......................................................78
Quán Sú Pagoda......................................................80
Buddhist Nun........................................................82
The Lustful Monk....................................................84
Old Pagoda..........................................................86
Viewing Cac-Có'''''''''''''''' ****rn..............................................88
Mocking a Monk......................................................90
Trân Quôc Temple....................................................92
At the Chinese General''''''''''''''''s Tomb.......................................94
Rusty Coins.........................................................96
The Scarecrow.......................................................98
The Crab...........................................................100
Unwelcome Houseguest...............................................102
The Kingdom of Dang................................................104
The Chess Game.....................................................106
Heaven Market......................................................108
Questions for the Moon.............................................110
Country Scene......................................................112
Spring-Watching Pavilion...........................................114
Endnotes...........................................................116
Sources for Nôm poems..............................................130
References.........................................................132
Sources for quôc-ngu'''''''''''''''' versions.....................................133
About the translator...............................................134
ca dao by John Balaban.............................................135
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Autumn Landscape
Drop by drop rain slaps the banana leaves.
Praise whoever sketched this desolate scene:
the lush, dark canopies of the gnarled trees,
the long river, sliding smooth and white.
I lift my wine flask, drunk with rivers and hills.
My backpack, breathing moonlight, sags with poems.
Look, and love everyone.
Whoever sees this landscape is stunned.

Confession (I)
Gray sky. A rooster crows.
Bitter, I look out on thickets and folds.
I haven''t shaken grief''s rattle, yet it clatters.
I haven''t rung sorrow''s bell, though it tolls.
Their noise only drags me down, angry
with a fate that says I''m much too bold.
Men of talent, learned men, where are you?
Am I supposed to walk as if stooped and old ?

Offering Betel
A piece of nut and a bit of leaf.
Here, Xuân Hu''o''ng has smeared it.
If love is fated, you''ll chew it red.
Lime won''t stay white, nor leaf, green.

Country Scene
The waterfall plunges in mist.
Who can describe this desolate scene:
the long white river sliding through
the emerald shadows of the ancient canopy
...a shepherd''s horn echoing on the valley,
fishnets stretched to dry on sandy flats.
A bell is tolling, fading, fading
just like love. Only poetry lasts.

On Sharing a Husband
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 rice
but the rice is rotten. You slave like the maid,
but without pay. If I had known how it would go
I think I would have lived alone.

Jackfruit
My body is like the jackfruit on the branch:
my skin is coarse, my meat is thick.
Kind sir, if you love me, pierce me with your stick.
Caress me and sap will slicken your hands.

Three-Mountain Pass
A cliff face. Another. And still a third.
Who was so skilled to carve this craggy scene:
the ****rn''s red door, the ridge''s narrow cleft,
the black knoll bearded with little mosses?
A twisting pine bough plunges in the wind,
showering a willow''s leaves with glistening drops.
Gentlemen, lords, who could refuse, though weary
and shaky in his knees, to mount once more?

Weaving at Night
Lampwick turned up, the room glows white.
The looms moves easily all night long
as 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.
Girls who do it right, let it soak