YOUR BIRTHDAY, CHRISTMASTIDE

The sky has turned grey and the weather cold,

It mildly drizzles like the kind of rain in Hue of old.

There is something to cause longings in the air:

The year is going to end or the spring to begin fair.

How many times since the last Christmas fête?

Were you still alive, we would surely celebrate.

For your birthday I would, with special complexion,

Make a cake quite sweet with all my affection.

I would mix the stuffing with my warm feeling,

Dress it with thousand mellifluous words appealing,

Adorn the surface with letters of congratulatory glee

And laugh resoundingly - how happy should we be!

It is needless to weigh or measure in order to bake,

Whoever can instruct how to create a love cake?

I would add a hem-line as a thread of souvenir

To encompass the multicolored seeds for my dear.

I would light the candles - how many pieces, well?

But what’s counting for, since time is in the sequel!

I only wish that the candles would spark to lighten

Your way in the misty world, salvation to heighten.

On your birthday I would write a small poem

And burn it for you on God’s descent as a proem

So that at such a distant place you read it loudly

Gnawing at the cake I prepared for you so proudly.

I would try to prevent my hot tears from falling

So you’re not too attached to the earth on recalling;

But, my cheeks suddenly got wet from nowhere:

It seems that the rain is dripping, I am not aware.

Translation by THANH-THANH