Throughout the Red River floodplain

(Baonghean) - I walked all the way along the Red River bank.

Everywhere the land is heavy with alluvial deposits.

Sweet corn, lush sugarcane fields

I occasionally hear the sound of the cuckoo calling us into summer.

Everywhere you look, there are lush bamboo groves.

The canals and ditches flowed, their waters murmuring softly to the ear.

Everywhere you look, there are lakes and ponds.

White cranes dart into the shadows of the clouds.

My grandmother chewed a piece of spicy betel nut.

A pot of green tea, a traditional pipe, my grandfather

There is no return here.

Singing a Quan Ho folk song, I sit and play the drum.

The air here is fragrant with the scent of a flower village.

Hanoi Bridge connects across the Red River.

Tall buildings are visually jarring.

The birds struggle to gaze at the sky with their curved wings.

The Red River has flowed for millennia.

A rural area overflowing with rice and sweet potatoes.

Fragrant, chewy rice grains, to whom should I send them?

The city is a place of endless beer and revelry... Let people be!

Nguyen Trong Tuat