Poems of Hồ Xuân Hương : 餅㵢 - The Floating Cake
| 餅㵢 | The Floating Cake | 身㛪辰𤽸分㛪𧷺 𠤩浽𠀧沉買渃𡽫 硍湼默油𢬣几揑 𦓡㛪刎𡨹𬌓𢚸𣘈 | My body is white; my fate, softly rounded, rising and sinking like mountains in streams. Whatever way hands may shape me, at center my heart is red and true. |
| Bánh trôi | Thân em thì trắng, phận em tròn, Bảy nổi ba chìm mấy nước non. Rắn nát mặc dầu tay kẻ nặn, Mà em vẫn giữ tấm lòng son. |
| Notes | |
| Bánh trôi nước (“cake floats in water”) is a little sugary ball of sticky rice – often shaped like birds’ eggs – with a red-bean-paste center. The poem is spoken by a woman. But besides being about a woman’s fate, line two suggests as well the nation’s changeable fate with nước non, “mountains and streams,” the set phrase for “nation.” | |