55 years of re-reading Uncle Ho's New Year poem of the year of the Rooster 1969

(LĐ online) - At that time, every time Tet came, spring returned, Uncle Ho always had a poem wishing the people and soldiers of the whole country a happy New Year. From 1941 when he returned to the country to lead the revolution until his death in 1969, President Ho Chi Minh left behind a precious legacy of 22 New Year poems. The poem wishing the spring of Ky Dau 1969 was his last New Year poem before he passed away.

Uncle Ho's New Year poems all fully express the aspiration for independence and freedom for the nation, happiness and prosperity for the people; the spirit of optimism, strong determination and belief in the glorious revolutionary cause of our Party and people. That is not only the call of the country, the strategic mission of the Vietnamese revolution, but also the command of the heart that Uncle Ho transmitted to the whole nation. At the same time, Uncle Ho's New Year poems also contain the good and sacred customs and practices of the nation, are the first spring poems with accurate predictions, the wonderful inspiration of a great prophet and revolutionary. Therefore, every time we read Uncle Ho's New Year poems, especially when we hear his warm and passionate voice, our hearts are filled with emotions because of his warm and loving feelings.

Spring of Ky Dau 1969, Uncle Ho's 79th spring, although his health was weak, when Tet came, he still wrote a poem to wish Tet with a generous spirit, strong belief in victory, exciting and touching the hearts of compatriots and soldiers nationwide. The poem was both philosophical and practical; it was a motto for revolutionary action, a call to arms, expressing thoughts, feelings and a clever prediction about the approaching day of national reunification.

Last year was a glorious victory,
This year the frontline will surely win big.
For independence, for freedom,
Fight to make America go away, fight to make the puppets fall.
Forward! Soldiers, compatriots,
North - South reunion, what spring is happier!

The poem is written in the six-eight meter (six-eight and eight-word verses), concise, short, simple but full of meaning. This is one of three New Year poems written by Uncle Ho in the six-eight meter (previously the New Year poems in 1951 and 1954); each sentence, each word contains a heroic tone, a spirit of victory and exudes a strong belief in the nation's victory.

In the poem wishing for the New Year of the Rooster 1969, Uncle Ho began by writing: “Last year was a glorious victory, / This year the frontline will surely win even more”, briefly summarizing the success of the old year and confidently predicting the victory of the new year, the Rooster 1969. Before that, during the Tet Mau Than 1968, responding to Uncle Ho's call in the Spring Poem: “Forward! Total victory will surely be ours!”, the people and soldiers of the South simultaneously launched a General Offensive and Uprising, dealing a fatal blow to the US-puppet regime. Assessing the level of success of 1968, Uncle Ho used the word “glorious” instead of the word “great”, which both exuded joy, evoked a lyrical tone, and deeply implied the “brightness and integrity” of the victory. And on the momentum of that victory, Uncle Ho predicted: “This year the frontline will surely win even more”. In the first two verses, Uncle Ho repeats the word “victory” twice, creating a lasting resonance, connecting the time and space of victory. It is brief and concise, but exudes the belief in certain victory.

The next two verses Uncle Ho wrote: “For independence, for freedom/ Fight to drive out the Americans, fight to topple the puppets” as a firm, eloquent declaration. First of all, Uncle Ho clearly stated the sacred, noble purpose of the resistance war against the Americans and puppets as “For independence, for freedom” for the country and happiness for our people. This is the great ambition, the noble aspiration and the burning desire that Uncle Ho pursued throughout his life. He once said: “I have only one desire, a desire to the utmost, that is for our country to be independent, our people to be free; our people, everyone has food to eat, clothes to wear, everyone can study”. For the sacred, noble purpose of “independence, freedom”, we are forced to “Fight to drive out the Americans, fight to topple the puppets”. This is the mission, the correct and creative strategic motto of Uncle Ho and our Party. Because on the southern battlefield, there were still half a million American and vassal troops and more than 1 million puppet soldiers. If the professional American army could not be driven out, the Saigon puppet government would still have the strength to confront our forces, causing great losses to the revolution and the goal of "independence and freedom" would be difficult to complete. Therefore, the motto of "fighting while negotiating" for the US to withdraw its troops with honor was extremely correct and creative as Uncle Ho had put forth. And every time the American troops "left", the puppet government would have to "fall" before the storm of the revolution. The way Uncle Ho used strong verbs in a verse: "hit" (twice), "left", "fell" was both valuable in terms of word choice and good in terms of tone, making the verse like a firm and eloquent declaration.

The last sentence of the New Year poem, Uncle Ho wrote: “Forward! Soldiers, compatriots/ North and South reunite, what spring is happier than this!”. The verb “forward!” contains the solidarity of the army and people of the whole country into one block and is a call from Uncle Ho, from the country, urging the army and people of the two regions of the South and North to rush forward to defeat the American invaders to unify the country. This is not the first time Uncle Ho used the verb “forward”, but before that, he had used it in many other New Year poems. At the end of the poem, Uncle Ho predicted that the day of North and South reunification was approaching and for our country and our people, the spring of “North and South reunion” would be the most beautiful and happiest spring, there is no “spring happier than this!”. The last sentence of the poem further ignited the belief and desire for the day when the country is completely unified, the North and South are no longer divided, mothers can see their children, wives can be close to their husbands, brothers and friends can reunite in the spring of victory of the nation.

Six years after Uncle Ho passed away, implementing the motto "Fight to drive the Americans out, fight to overthrow the puppets", our Party led the army and people of the two regions of the South and the North to continuously gain many great victories, each year with even greater victories than the previous year. In December 1972, after the victory of " Dien Bien Phu in the air", in January 1973, the US imperialists were forced to sign the Paris Agreement to withdraw all US troops from the South; then came the "Ho Chi Minh Campaign" which brought about the Great Spring Victory of 1975, completely liberating the South, unifying the Fatherland; fully realizing Uncle Ho's Will and what he had predicted since the spring of Ky Dau 1969.

The poem "Spring of the Rooster Year 1969" was Uncle Ho's last poem to wish him a happy new year and 55 years since that day, every year when Tet comes, spring comes, although we no longer look forward to and eagerly receive Uncle Ho's New Year's poems, the memories and echoes of Uncle Ho's New Year's poems still resonate: "Oh Uncle, Tet is here. New Year's Eve / Still waiting to hear Uncle's poems every time / Younger children chirping happily with firecrackers / Thinking of Uncle Ho's thousands of hands clapping for spring" (To Huu). And Uncle Ho's thoughts and feelings conveyed in his New Year's poems are always a source of encouragement and motivation for the people and soldiers of the whole country to compete enthusiastically and enthusiastically to move forward and complete new tasks.

A new spring has come, the year of the Dragon 2024, remembering Uncle Ho, learning and following him, each of us needs to cultivate, practice virtue and train talent, strive, promote the spirit of solidarity, self-reliance, self-strengthening, overcome difficulties, overcome challenges, together build the homeland and country to be more and more prosperous and happy as beloved Uncle Ho always wished.

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