Young woman carrying water with “drum-shaped belly,” Đông Hồ tradition, twentieth century (from Saigoneer)

<sup>*Drum Gorge, also known by the name Kiềm Cổ, is located in Nam Kênh commune, Thanh Liêm district, bordering Kim Bảng district in Hà Nam province, northern Vietnam. Situated along the banks of the Đáy River, it is a spot where the river is squeezed between two rock faces, narrowing it significantly like an alleyway.

translated from the Vietnamese by Thúy Ðinh</sup>

 

Mountain walls flanking a narrow stream
Is this what they call The Drum Gorge?
Wind-lashed rocks crackle, cower, creak
Waves-borne river rum-tumbles its belly song
Inside the cave one’s path winds tight and steep,
Out on the bluff, the sky a gaping maw.
Crossing the gorge, a woman looks back
No man can grasp her drum-shaped pain.

Kẽm Trống* 

Hai bên thì núi, giữa thì sông 
Có phải đây là Kẽm Trống không? 
Gió giật sườn non khua lắc cắc, 
Sóng dồn mặt nước vỗ long bong
Ở trong hang núi còn hơi hẹp, 
Ra khỏi đầu non đã rộng thùng. 
Qua cửa, mình ơi, nên ngắm lại, 
Nào ai có biết nỗi bưng bồng.