The pain in the poem "Looking for Mother"

Find mother
Mom, where are you?
I have been looking for days.
Nu Village was swept away.
Nu Village returns to its original state!

Mom, where are you?
It's afternoon, are you cold, mom?
I ran across the field
I waded across the stream.

Mom, come home!
Our kitchen needs fire
Our fields need corn.
And I need you mom!

Mom, where are you?
River water level is low
The mud is also dry.
Choking up, the child burst into tears.
It's raining outside again!
CEILING PAINT

In literature, the image of a mother and maternal love is always an endless source of inspiration for poets and writers, because it is a sacred and profound human emotion. It can be the image of a mother who works hard to provide food and clothing for her children, or a strong and resilient mother in difficult circumstances.

In the poem “Finding Mother” by Son Tran, maternal love appears from a painful and anxious perspective when a child searches for his mother in the midst of the devastation after a natural disaster. The author depicts the great loss and helplessness in the face of the cruelty of nature, while also honoring the son’s intense love for his mother.

The poem was written very quickly by the author after watching a video of a boy named Phuc using a hoe to try to find his mother on every meter of land in Nu village (Lao Cai) after the recent terrible flash flood. That short video has touched the hearts of many people.

The poem begins with a passionate call, “Mom, where are you?”, like a plea in the search for her mother. The child’s heartbreaking call for her mother is filled with love, panic, and anxiety. With just a few simple words, the author has succeeded in portraying the great pain of loss when his mother is no longer around. The child seems unable to accept the fact that his mother is gone and continues to search, hoping that his mother will return like many other times.

The scene of Nu village being swept away in the raging flood is the background for that loss. The verse “Nu village was swept away/Nu village returned to its original state!” creates a profound contrast. Nu village in Phuc Khanh commune, Bao Yen district, Lao Cai province is a beautiful village nestled at the foot of Voi mountain, where 167 households with 760 Tay ethnic people live together. The residents here grow two crops of rice, corn, and cassava a year. The Voi mountain landslide in the early morning of September 10, 2024 buried 37 households, affected hundreds of people, and wiped out the village in the blink of an eye. It was an unprecedentedly horrifying scene!

Now, that beautiful village has become a desolate wasteland, returning to its natural state. The word “original” in the poem is a strong metaphor, representing the return of the earth and sky after all traces of human beings have been erased. This is a very real image of the devastating power of natural disasters but also a gloomy picture of human helplessness when faced with the destruction of nature.

The desperation becomes even more evident as the child continues his journey to find his mother: “Mom, where are you lying? / It's late, are you cold? / I ran across the field / I waded across the stream.”

The short, urgent verses show the child's panic and frenzy. He defies all dangers and crosses all harsh terrains to find his mother. That determination not only expresses the child's love and sorrow for his mother, but also the weakness and helplessness of an immature soul in a crisis.

One of the special aspects of the poem is the repetition of calls and questions without any response: "Mom, where are you? / "Mom, where are you? / Mom, come back!". These calls not only express the child's anxiety and restlessness, but also act as a prayer, a fragile longing. The sacred maternal love becomes the child's only source of life in the midst of the storm. Not only is it about finding her mother, the child also wants to find the peace of her previous life.

"Our kitchen needs fire/ Our fields need corn/ And I need my mother!". These three simple yet emotional verses express the child's desire for normalcy to return, where life can continue with the image of his mother. However, reality is too cruel. The image of "The river water level is low/ The mud is also dry" is a clear sign that his mother is not there, but the child is still searching in vain. The child seems to be stubbornly clinging to what has been lost as if his mother is still somewhere, just needing a little more time to find her. But nature is still cold to human fate.

The poem ends on a sad note: "It's raining outside again!" The rain here is not just rain but also tears, the cry of heaven and earth, mixed with the pain of the child.

Through the poem “Finding Mother”, poet Son Tran has succeeded in conveying the pain of loss and the feeling of loneliness and isolation of those who have suffered the harsh consequences of natural disasters. The image of a child looking for his mother in the poem can also be understood more broadly, representing the helplessness of humans in the face of natural disasters.

“Finding Mother” is a profound poem, not only reflecting the personal pain of a child who has lost his mother but also containing thoughts about humanity. The work leaves readers with many lingering emotions, from sorrow, choking to sympathy and contemplation about family love, as well as the obsession, torment, and helplessness of humans in the face of unpredictable changes in nature.