Your Birthday, Christmastide Poem by Thanh-Thanh NhuanLe

The sky has turned grey and the weather cold,
It mildly drizzles like the kind of rain in Hue of old.
There is something to cause longings in the air:
The year is going to end or the spring to begin fair.

How many times since the last Christmas fête?
Were you still alive, we would surely celebrate.
For your birthday I would, with special complexion,
Make a cake quite sweet with all my affection.

I would mix the stuffing with my warm feeling,
Dress it with thousand mellifluous words appealing,
Adorn the surface with letters of congratulatory glee
And laugh resoundingly - how happy should we be!

It is needless to weigh or measure in order to bake,
Whoever can instruct how to create a love cake?
I would add an edge line as a thread of souvenir
To encompass the multicolored seeds for my dear.

I would light the candles - how many pieces, well?
But what’s counting for, since time is in the sequel!
I only wish that the candles would spark to lighten
Your way in the misty world, salvation to heighten.

On your birthday I would write a small poem
And burn it for you on God’s descent as a proem
So that at such a distant place you read it loudly
Gnawing at the cake I prepared for you so proudly.

I would try to prevent my hot tears from falling
So you’re not too attached to the earth on recalling,
But, my cheeks suddenly got wet from nowhere:
It seems the rain is dripping, I am not even aware.