The unceasing anxiety about life and human destiny

I'm just afraid it will rain.

I'm just afraid it will rain.

Erase all the things you promised

Dark clouds come, the sky is no longer blue

The sun is not as clear as the first morning.

Shower after shower

Erase all traces of you from that day

Pillows fade the scent of confusion

The leaves on the dry branches scattered and flew away.

Rain takes away the light of day

The road is full of worries and difficulties

Restless sleep

Human happiness is fragile like falling rain.

Old music, old song

Our childhood is the most gentle place

Although life is full of changes and hardships

Leaning our heads we hear lullabies.

As for me, I will never forget

Just afraid the rainy season changes with the wind

Trees and leaves change with each other.

I don't have the same eye color anymore.

I'm just afraid it will rain.

Love the old garden with broken branches and fallen fruit

Your wet shirt makes me cry forever

How will we be tomorrow, my love?

Luu Quang Vu

Lưu Quang Vũ (1948-1988) is not only a famous playwright, but also an outstandingly talented poet of Vietnam. Lưu Quang Vũ's poems often contain many emotions and are full of worries and concerns... The poem "I'm just afraid that it will rain", extracted from the collection "Bees in the deep night" (1993) is one of those poems. This is a good poem that is loved by many people, because it contains an obsession about human fate and life, leaving in the reader a sense of anxiety, sadness and premonitions about an uncertain future, facing the challenges of life.

It can be said that the image of rain is almost spread throughout the work (except the fourth stanza), creating a symbol throughout the poem. Or in other words, the rain is a test of people's hearts against the effects of the external environment. Rain is a common phenomenon of the weather, what is there to be afraid of? But reading the poem, we understand that the rain is just an excuse for the author to associate with the unpredictable changes in life and the uncertainties of people's hearts, starting from her promise: "I'm just afraid it will rain/ Erase all the things you promised", then "Erase all traces of that day"The same scent on the pillow, afraid that the rain will fade it away? The worry seems to increase exponentially, that is when the poet is afraid that the rain will erase everything, most afraid: "I no longer have the same eye color”. Is the poet worrying too much? But with the changes in life, anything can happen, and for a thoughtful person like Luu Quang Vu, the above worry is understandable.

Not only that, the showers after the drizzles, even the seasonal rains, the irregularities of the weather or the changes of the years of life have sown in the poet's heart endless worries about life, happiness, and love. With a sensitive and delicate soul, the poet imagines the ironies that come from the rain (dark clouds, the sky is not blue, the sun is not clear, dry leaves are scattered, the rain takes away the light of the day, the road is full of worries that are difficult to solve, sleep is interrupted, the old garden has broken branches, fruits fall...), bringing with it worries that seem to never end, especially when the lyrical character realizes: "Human happiness is fragile like falling rain”. How many worries and concerns the rain is just a reason for the poet to express his feelings. Through that, we understand the poet’s anxious and responsible mood towards people and life. Thinking about the impacts of the external environment under the siege of the rain, perhaps the author wants to express his uneasy mood before the changes of life and the most fearful thing is whether people’s hearts will change after the storms of life?

For his part, before worrying about changes, the poet always affirms “As for me, I will never forget", not forgetting every song, every tune of the past, not forgetting even childhood memories, so: "Though life's road is full of changes and weariness/ I lean my head against it and listen to the lullaby". Even though life is full of hardships and difficulties, those pure memories never fade in the poet's mind.

The last stanza is haunting: "I'm just afraid it will rain/ I miss the old garden with broken branches and fallen fruit/ Your wet shirt makes me cry forever/ What will happen to us tomorrow, my dear?"The poem "I'm just afraid it will rain." is repeated in the last stanza, it seems that the fear is emphasized more, the saddest thing is feeling helpless, unable to protect the person you love from the rain, so "Your wet shirt makes me cry forever", his tears blurred with the rain, making the sadness even heavier.

The final verse is a question without an answer, because neither you, nor I (nor we) can know in advance what will happen in the storms of life, especially when life always poses challenges that require each person to face.How will we be tomorrow, my love?", the verse seems to pierce the reader's heart with an indescribable sadness. This is not only Luu Quang Vu's fear, but perhaps it is the fear of each of us?

“I am just afraid that it will rain”, is just an assumption, it has not rained yet and the rain has not come, but the consequences of the rain on people and life have been foreseen and awaited by the poet with fear. Knowing fear and being proactive in the face of possible uncertainties, is also a very normal mentality of a person who always knows how to plan ahead to make life complete. Therefore, the poem “I am just afraid that it will rain” is a metaphor for the “unrelenting anxiety about life and human destiny, the destiny of happiness...” (Dr. Nguyen Thanh Tam).