Touching children's poem about marines

The sea and islands of our country Vietnam are extremely vast and beautiful. To maintain the peace of the sea and the distant islands, the navy soldiers have to be far from home, far from the mainland, day and night, working hard to form a "sea fence", guarding the borders of the Fatherland. Poet Xuan Quynh wrote the poem "Letter to Dad on the Island" expressing the love and longing of a young friend for his father who did not hesitate to face difficulties and sacrifice to protect the sea and islands and the peace of the country.

The work opens with the image of a young friend writing a letter to his father on the occasion of the upcoming Tet holiday. Perhaps knowing that his father has to celebrate Tet on an island with his comrades this year, the young friend misses his father very much and wants to send his feelings to his father and the soldiers on the distant island. Therefore, the first two verses only recount the event but when read aloud, they are full of emotion and nostalgia: "Now that Tet is almost here/ I am writing a letter to my father (…)".

So what did the little boy write to his father? Let's follow the poem by author Xuan Quynh, gently open the letter to read and feel those feelings!

Through the letter, with the love for his father and his father's comrades on the faraway island, the little boy also worried that his father would lack banh chung to eat during Tet. How filial, the little boy knew how to care about his father's daily life, and worry about the shortages on the island. But it was inconvenient, the banh chung was too big, the mailbox was too small, what to do? A little hesitation, hesitation was lovely and innocent through the author's innocent and humorous way of telling the story: "For Tet, I want to send my father/ A banh chung for fun/ But the cake is too big/ And the mailbox is too small".

Unable to send banh chung to the mailbox, fresh flowers sent to a faraway island would probably wilt, the little boy decided to send a letter to his father. Surely his father would agree? Just asking his father, but in fact the little boy had already given his reasons. The little boy was so clever and cute that how could his father and the navy be angry: "Sending flowers would be afraid they would wilt/ The road to the faraway island/ I wrote a letter/ Surely my father would agree".

Perhaps from his imagination and guesswork, the little boy asked his father about the living conditions on the island: must be windy, must be wavy? He asked his father, but he was already "sure". The island was so big, and in the middle of the ocean and sky, with wind blowing from all directions, what could he use to cover it all? Reading up to here, we see that the little boy's eyes seemed to be red with pity for his father, for the navy soldiers who had to endure many hardships and deprivations. But the little boy was also happy for his father because he could always hear the waves lapping, unlike on the mainland, where he had to go all the way to the sea. It was this innocence of the little boy that helped Xuan Quynh write such natural and lovely verses: "It must be windy out there/ There's nothing to cover the island/ There's probably waves out there/ Dad can always hear them".

The author concludes the poem with her comments about her father and the navy men. Her father is the "sea fence", along with his friends protecting and preserving the sea and sky of the Fatherland. Despite the hardships and difficulties, soldiers like her father are always loved and proud of by everyone: "Grandma said: the sea fence/ Is her father, my father/ Together with his friends/ Protecting the island and the sky".

"Letter to Dad on the Island" is a little boy's confession to his father in the days leading up to Tet. Filial piety, longing and pride in his father are truly lovely and precious feelings expressed through the poem. Every child has a father, no matter what job his father does, as long as he is useful to society, he is respected and appreciated.

LE THANH VAN