The Gardener and the Queen

| KimZ Nguyen

I drew this abstract painting with inspiration from “The Gardener:1” by Rabindranath Tagore (a great Indian poet in the late 19th century). The painting is a blooming garden after the winter, with the Queen and the Gardener.
Some notes for the painting details:

  1. full painting
  2. here we have the Queen. Where is the Gardener?
  3. blooming flowers
  4. plants in melting snow.

The Gardener:1 (Rabindranath Tagore)

The Gardener:1
Servant
HAVE mercy upon your servant, my queen!
Queen
The assembly is over and my servants are all gone. Why do you come at this late hour?
Servant
When you have finished with others, that is my time. I come to ask what remains for your last servant to do.
Queen
What can you expect when it is too late?
Servant
Make me the gardener of your flower garden.
Queen
What folly is this?
Servant
I will give up my other work.
I throw my swords and lances down in the dust. Do not send me to distant courts; do not bid me undertake new conquests. But make me the gardener of your flower garden.
Queen
What will your duties be?
Servant
The service of your idle days.
I will keep fresh the grassy path where you walk in the morning, where your feet will be greeted with praise at every step by the flowers eager for death.
I will swing you in a swing among the branches of the saptaparna, where the early evening moon will struggle to kiss your skirt through the leaves.
I will replenish with scented oil the lamp that burns by your bedside, and decorate your footstool with sandal and saffron paste in wondrous designs.
Queen
What will you have for your reward?
Servant
To be allowed to hold your little fists like tender lotus-buds and slip flower chains over your wrists; to tinge the soles of your feet with the red juice of ashoka petals and kiss away the speck of dust that may chance to linger there.
Queen
Your prayers are granted, my servant, you will be the gardener of my flower garden.

Some spring poems and products when Tet is coming

| KimZ Nguyen

Today is the 2nd day of December in the Lunar calendar, and it’s almost 1 month till the Tet holiday (traditional Vietnamese Lunar New Year). So excited when the new year is coming!

These days with the cool wind coming through my office window and the mizzle reminds me of one poem I translated from my dad’s Vietnamese poem a long time ago (my dad Nguyen Kim Huy is a poet and writer). Here it is:

SPRING

Season of pouring honey. And the bumblebees
Fly in the back garden so rashly
Season of blooming passionately. And flowers of melody
Invade the soul along the palisades

Painted upon the sky are the crystal lovely eyes
Rolling on the ground the fog falling down and down
The sun sets slightly as if it’s walking slowly
Bringing the nostalgia further away day by day

Season of shining diamonds. And through the eyes
Glimpse the curve of the blushing shoulder

In the silence, there is the voice of self-delusion
Saying the spring has gone with the Northwind!

2000

And here is one more:

PROBABLY, SPRING…

Then passionately appears the spring
With no wonder, no fear no sulking
In blue eyes shimmering the green leaf
In crystal smile singing the light

Ongoing in dreams is the age of the full moon
Ongoing in seasons is the mysterious horizon
And the days farewell to upsets with all kinds
With vague illusions confusing each other’s life

Replied in the spring is astonished saying
After how much sincere to come together
You’re so charming so young so sweet
Where has the first love gone forever?

Forgive the spring if it’s ever mistaken
The light still shines in hesitancy at the moment
In the silence of the center of thousand thoughts
There appeared a flash of reminiscing…

2010

Yeah, sometimes in my free time, I wrote some poems to express my feeling to this life, and most of them are in Vietnamese. I will translate them into English soon! 🙂

In Vietnam, Tet is much more important than January 1 that is celebrated in Western countries.  People go back to their hometown and visit their dearest ones: mom, dad, grandparents and all their relatives. We have a lot of ceremonies to commemorate our ancestors. The people who follows Buddism also go to pagodas and pray for luck and health in the coming new year.

Here we have in my shop The Wish Designs some traditional symbols of Tet: yellow apricot, peach blossom, red lantern, bamboo pole, watermelon and Chung cake, traditional ao dai and so on in a collection of various abstract textures and geometric shapes. Made with the inspiration of Minimal Abstract Art Deco.

There are a lot of clothes as well as home deco products for new year decoration in this Tet. All products related to Tet and Vietnam can be found here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/thewishdesigns/shop/vietnam

These designs were made in cooperation with my teammates at Nikki Studio.