In the middle of the countryside, my heart misses home

Reading “Awakening with the Moon in the Countryside” by Nguyen Ha in the People’s Army Weekend Newspaper (No. 1296, 2020), I was immediately captivated by the simple yet profound poetry. Writing about the changes in the homeland is always a familiar topic for writers and poets. Therefore, choosing this topic will be very difficult because it is easy to be repetitive and clichéd. But for a mature and “professional” writer like Nguyen Ha, nothing can be difficult for him. Through “Awakening with the Moon in the Countryside”, he has found his own path, leading readers into happy and sad memories of the changes in the countryside during the integration period.

It is a fact that the urbanization process has been and is strongly changing the countryside landscape, the rural appearance has become more civilized and modern. On the other hand, the traditional rural spatial structure is being changed, so the differences mentioned in the poem are also natural.

The poem is a nostalgic line of a person with a heavy heart for his homeland. Having been away from home for a long time, now having the chance to return, the poet “Keeps awake with the golden moon all night”. The dear memories of a time keep rushing back, the most poignant is nostalgia. Remembering the shortcut to the neighbor’s house, remembering the traces of the pond with the sour fig tree, the peach guava tree, remembering the village pond, the rice fields, remembering the dike, the river wharf, the wooden boat, the bamboo tops…

The old loves are gone now, replaced by a flower wall blocking the shortcut to the neighbor's house, so the author wrote: "Near the house, far from the alley, how do I know which way to go?", "The village pond has dried up, both shallow and deep / Filled in to build a mansion", the fields have "consolidated, changed plots and changed owners' names". Even the village cemetery has changed to clearly distinguish between rich and poor: some houses are "built like red mansions", some have "earthen graves worn by sun and rain".

A new face has been replaced, people who return to visit their hometown feel surprised, mixed with joy and sadness... Happy because of the change of the village. Sad because the old memories are only in memory... In those changes, the author realizes that there are still things that have not changed, which are the golden moonlight in the village and "Luckily, there is still a place for me to sit/ Under the cotton tree burning red in the March sky". This is a suggestive verse. The cotton tree stands to light the fire at the beginning of the village every March, now it is a witness of the village, urging the steps to go, welcoming the steps to return. Is it a symbol of the immutability that carries the cultural value of the village? The golden moonlight, the cotton tree and the place for me to sit are still intact, can it be understood that it symbolizes the beautiful things that make up the lasting value of the Vietnamese village?

To be fair, it is inevitable that society changes and the countryside changes for the better, in line with the development trend. Witnessing these changes, besides the joy, why do poets still feel sad? Maybe because they are too attached to their old hometown, the place that marked their meaningful childhood? Maybe deep down, poets are worried that what belongs to the cultural identity of the countryside will gradually fade away?

Whatever the reason, we can feel and understand the poet’s deep love and affection for his homeland. And so, surely the sadness and regret will pass when the author witnesses “villages like cities”, where most of the people’s lives are rich, prosperous, and happy.

The last verse: “In the middle of the countryside, my heart misses the old homeland” is a powerful verse, encapsulating the author’s feelings for his homeland. I suddenly remembered someone’s verse: “Oh, everything changes/But for the country and the river, there is only one word of love”. It can also be understood that even if the countryside changes, the author’s feelings for his homeland will never change. Because homeland is not only about great and grand things, homeland is also a place that contains simple, dear memories, sometimes even suffering and hardship…

“Wake up with the moon in the countryside” is a good poem, reflecting the changing reality of the Vietnamese countryside. With simple, sweet, and rustic words, Nguyen Ha evokes memories of a time when he was attached to his hometown. Besides the joy and pride in the changing face of the countryside, the author also feels a bit nostalgic and regretful, because the pure memories of a time long gone now? That is the very real feeling of the poet and of each of us. But “tomorrow starts from today”, the homeland will still change a lot, hoping that the standards that make up the identity of the countryside will last forever and become better and better.

NGUYEN THI BINH