Hát bóng máy xây (Cinématographe) - Mai Nham (1899)

Sàigòn phía chợ dựa bên đường,

Saigon, market side along the road
Rạp lá gầy nên một hý trường;

A thatched theater constructed as a stage
Chuông dậy vang tai người rộn-rực,

Bells resound in our ears, noisily
Đèn chong chói mặt chúng chàng-ràng;

Blinding lamps, their faces suspended in time;
Dọi hình nhơn-vật dường như sống,

Casting character's images as if they're alive,
Nghe tiếng đầu-không (1) cũng dị thường;

Seeing an isolated head was also unusual;
Tay khéo tài hay bày cuộc lạ,

Skilled hands or an oddity displayed
Ước trông ai nấy thấy cho tường.
I wish all could see to make this clear.

(1) Tuy đầu có mình ẩn trong màng, mà phép thuật mà con mắt khó biết được; còn cái tợ một chưn vẽ cũng khôn thấy được. Thiệt là khéo, thiệt là hay

(1) Even though head had a body on the screen, but some magic made the eyes hard to see; yet the support on one leg was hard to see. Quite skillful, quite wonderful.

nguồn: Nam Kỳ 8 tháng 6 1899

France was at the forefront of motion picture technology and movies came very early to Vietnam. A thatched hut in Saigon was set up to demonstrate the technology which would have been quite novel anywhere in the world. (Cinemas did not exist yet). It's no surprise that this poet was astounded and stupefied.