An Old Book
Books on the shelf are in categories,
Well kept and arranged in order,
While one lies elsewhere,
Is covered in thick dust.
Kept but never cared for,
Tossed into a corner,
An outcast from the new shelved books,
Fearful it may destroy the shelf’s proper upkeep.
The book in the corner feels left out.
No one even notices it.
Dust chokes it, making it full of self-doubts.
Only the new books are handsomely good.
Tomorrow he must do some research.
He searches through all the books.
There are so many of them,
But none is the right, relevant one.
The book with the old cover, however,
He overlooks
Although it may be very helpful to his research.
The neglected one is his best kept secret.
Translated by Terri Shaffer Yamada and Nhem Soknea
( Nou Hach Literary Association)
The Sound of Tro
The raw sound of the strings breaks through the silence
Slowly drifting into the open window
The sound vibrates and echoes to fill up my room
Oh, the melancholic melody.
I rushed to search for the source
My eyes fell on a young Chao guiding his Ta
Ta trails behind Chao, strumming tunes after tunes
With a sad gaze, Chao cups a plastic bowl in his hands.
សំឡេងទ្រ
សំឡេងកូដទ្រលាន់គ្រលួច
ហើរចូលបង្អួចបើកចំហ
សូរសៀវពីរោះរន្តំល្អ
ឱសំឡេងទ្រដ៏កំសត់។
ស្ទុះវឹងទៅមើលសភាពជាក់
តាចៅពីរនាក់ជាក់ប្រាកដ
តាដើរពីក្រោយកូដចេញបទ
ចៅមុខកំសត់កាន់ចានជ័រ។