NOSTALGIC AUTUMN

Although we are away from each other,

You, the scent of the past, I still adore.

I have been pining, every minute awaiting

Your return to satisfy my longing for.

I have hung around in the warm sun:      

Our souls with the wind and clouds blend

Hovering under the familiar heavens

Where our delight used to extend.

When came the evening, the two lovers

Whispered each in the other’s ear

In a quiet corner of the autumm lake

Vowing lifelong love in it to persevere.

Now that you are very far away

I still preserve the old petal, the feel

Of the rare fragrant flowers half-opened

On the forest fringe full of appeal

In the cold poetic moonlit mid-autumn...

Such nostalgia, how to sufficiently reveal!  

   Vietnamese poem by Chúc Anh   

   English translation by THANH-THANH