(Translation of the Vietnamese poem “Ong Do”, written by Vu Dinh Lien (1913-1996), published in 1936.

Vuong, Thu-Trang

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 Mindsponge https://mindsponge.info/posts/131 Lastupdated: 12/22/2022The Master Thu-Trang Vuonghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7262-9671December 22, 2011(Translation of the Vietnamese poem “Ong Do”, written by Vu Dinh Lien(1913-1996), published in 1936.)The MasterPeach blossoms bloomed every springThere again, the old master cameWith red paper and black inkOn a street, where the people claimed.They claimed to buy his writings,And all praised him while buying“Just a mere move of his handTurns strokes into a phoenix dance!”But fewer buyers came each yearAdmirers, where did they go?Unused ink laid like black tears;Red paper dulled in sorrow…That old master just sat thereAmong those who did not care.On the dull red fallen dead leaves;There fell soft rain with slight grief.Another peach blossoms’ springYet the old master is not there.Oh, where are they wanderingOld folks’ souls we all forgot?This English translation of the famous poem “Ong Do” was made by Thu-TrangVuong (Vuong Thu Trang) in late December 2011, when she was an 8th graderat Giang Vo Secondary School in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was lightly edited byProfessor Nancy K. Napier (Boise State University, ID, USA). Thu-Tranggraduated from Sciences Po Paris in 2021 and has since living and working inParis, Frace.In January 2018, professor Pham Trong Le (1938-2022), the first-ever translatorof “Ong Do” in 1972, wrote an article about the Vietnamese Tet Holiday in TheFirmament Literacy Journal (vol. 10, no. 4) and consulted four nicely donetranslations of the poem after his first version in 1972. Prof. Le confirmed thatThu-Trang’s translation was one of the best and the newest.*Editorial note: This article was edited and promoted by  Minh-HoangNguyen, a co-author with Thu-Trang Vuong in numerous academicpublications.References[1] Wikipedia. (2022). Vu Dinh Lien. https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C5%A9_%C4%90%C3%ACnh_Li%C3%AAn[2] Pham Trong Le (2018). The meaning of Tet in Vietnam. The FirmamentLiteracy Journal, 10(4), 8-18. ©2022 AISDL - Science Portal for the SM3D Knowledge Management Theory

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