Tet
Wishing
by Tran
Te Xuong
Be still and listen
to people’s wishing each other:
That they could
live for hundred years till hair and beard turn white ever
I am determined
to start a business in trading of mortars and pestles
Because many of
those will be grinding and preparing betel
Be still and listen
to people’s wishing of richness:
Where can they store
hundreds, thousands, ten thousands of goodness?
Now even their chickens
are certainly having money as food to fare
A coin here, a coin
there, without their wishing for them to be there.
Be still and listen
to people’s wishing of luxury and elegance:
That some can trade
for titles, some for mandarin’s position
I am determined
to start a trade in getting parasols for sale,
So I still can,
while cursing, sell them in great number without fail.
Be still and listen
to people’s wishing of abundance of kids:
That their fifth
and even seventh birth giving will be fine and complete
Then towns will
become crowded with their inhabitants
So crowded that
they have to go and dwell in the far mountains.
I have some well-wishing
to make in my imitating
That to everyone
in this life in their living
To kings, mandarins,
scholars, people, and everyone in all nations
That they will somehow
attain the true, worthy status of being persons.
Translated from Vietnamese
into English by Hương Cau Cao Tân
on 20 July, 2019,
in British Columbia, Canada
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