Poems of Hồ Xuân Hương : 泣翁府永祥 - Lament for the Prefect of Vĩnh-Tường
| 泣翁府永祥 | Lament for the Prefect of Vĩnh-Tường | 𤾓𢆥翁府永祥喂 丐𡢻𠀧生㐌呂耒 墫秩文章𠀧𡱩坦 捻蹤弧矢𦊚方𡗶 幹斤造化淶兜秩 𠰘襊乾坤紩秩耒 𠄩𠤩𣎃𡗶羅買祝 𤾓𢆥翁府永祥喂 | One hundred years. Oh, Prefect of Vĩnh-Tường. Now your love debt is all paid off. Your poetic talents buried three feet down. Your fine ambitions windstrewn. The heavenly scales got dropped and lost. The mouth of earth’s bag is cinched up. Twenty-seven months seemed to short. . Oh, Prefect of Vĩnh-Tường. |
| Khóc ông phủ Vĩnh-Tường | Trăm năm ông phủ Vĩnh-Tường ơi Cái nợ ba sinh đã giả rồi Chôn chặt văn chương ba thước đất Ném tung hồ thỉ bốn phương trời Cán cân tạo hoá rơi đâu mất Miệng túi tàn khôn thắt chặt rồi Hai bảy tháng trời là mấy chốc Trăm năm ông phủ Vĩnh-Tường ơi. |
| Notes | |
| Her legend holds that she loved this first spouse, the chief official of Vĩnh-Tường region. “One hundred years” is the conventional phrase for a lifetime; “twenty-seven months” was all they had together. But Hoàng Xuân Hãn argues that the Prefect could not have been her husband, but was perhaps the husband of one of her friends. Nợ ba sinh is “a love debt to be repaid in three (consecutively reincarnated) lives.” The poem takes the form of a funeral lament. | |