Springtime Song

(NB&CL) Ultimately, we desperately need Tet, we desperately need Spring, yet we truly don't realize it!

Like the chubby, milky cheeks of a baby.

Like the clear, innocent eyes of a shy, demure young girl, making life poetic and gentle:

"Your eyes are like the shape of a boat reflected in the water."

Her dress fluttered in the gentle breeze, shyly standing by the spring dock… (1)

Like a delicate flower bud sprouting from a withered, dry branch – a stark contrast between fragrant, youthful beauty and decaying, rotting wood.

Thankfully, there's still Tet, and Tet arrives on schedule, making our hearts sprout with the fresh green leaves of spring.

***

Society has undergone countless transformations, changes sweeping across the globe like waves, carrying away many old traditions.

The shift from rural to urban areas has led to the dismantling and fragmentation of many layers of traditional family culture. Breakups and divorces are more frequent. The world is becoming flat, slanted, and even distorted. Digital technology and innovation are pervasive. Even AI is creeping into love poems once thought to be the exclusive domain of poetic souls.

The heart has changed too, but perhaps not completely. Because it's not easy to change a heart!

Throughout the year, we struggle to make a living, but as Tet approaches, the clock suddenly chimes, signaling: Tet is coming! Tet is here! And we, young and old, big and small, get busy in different ways preparing for New Year's Eve, closing the old chapter and welcoming the new. Everyone puts aside their work and gets excited:

"The way home is through our hearts."

Regardless of sun or rain, near or far

Seven or eight, fame

Home is always waiting for us"... (2)

Remember, whether you experience failure or success, honor or disgrace, wealth or poverty, home will always be waiting for you to return to your hometown, to touch the warm source of life on your native land, to receive the life-giving essence.

On those cold, late afternoons at the end of the year, train stations, ports, airports—everywhere is teeming with people. They leave everything behind in the bustling city and head home! To the place that promises a warm hearth, a glowing fire, and a mother's embrace that heals all wounds…

It's strange, but no matter how long we've been away from home, as soon as we "touch the city gate" or "reach the village entrance," we immediately feel as if we're reliving the familiar atmosphere and smells of our childhood, of our early memories.

Yet, it's truly heartbreaking to see those with a wanderlust spirit, always feeling "homeless" wherever they go. Having drifted for half their lives, their parents are gone, their ancestral home is no more. Spending their lives "lodging" in the city, they return alone on New Year's Eve, immersing themselves in familiar surroundings, yet never finding their distant homeland. They are like bewildered strangers in their birthplace, constantly searching for the things of the past...

"My underworld is just a petty underworld."

Hearing the sound of rice boiling makes me miss home… (3)

That's it, adults are "very poor," "have nothing." They spend their whole lives searching. On a deep river at the end of the year, as Tet approaches, with the wind and frost fading their hair, they suddenly ask: Where is my homeland?!

***

The story goes that, back when our country was still poor and food was scarce, a respected professor proposed abolishing the Lunar New Year to focus time on labor and production. However, this proposal met with fierce opposition from society.

Recently, another professor suggested merging the Gregorian New Year with the Lunar New Year, following the example of Japan, Singapore, and others, to keep pace with global life and avoid prolonged stagnation of "our own unique holiday." However, the debate between those who agree and those who disagree remains intense.

The Vietnamese people traditionally prioritize emotions, family, and enduring cultural values over economic gain. Therefore, the Vietnamese nature is both gentle like the flow of water and strong and powerful like water – perhaps that's why one of the symbolic images of this rice-farming civilization is the great rivers. It is this flexibility and resilience that has created a strong community, never succumbing to danger, always achieving a happy ending. A nation that has resisted foreign invasion for thousands of years without being assimilated, continuing to grow and flourish miraculously, with aspirations soaring like the young boy Giong of old!

These years, every transformation is painful, even involving loss and fraught with hardship and struggle. “Last night, in the front yard – a branch of apricot blossoms” – A bright dawn is coming! Like spring, which has accompanied humanity for millennia yet remains “forever young,” overcoming all obstacles, spring always returns to the rice paddies, mulberry fields, riverbanks, and villages. Spring always returns to hearts that know how to smile at the budding and blossoming flowers…

Young people yearn to set sail on the open sea.

Those who have weathered many storms over the years are like a ship burdened with love, returning to its old harbor.

"My house is by the bridge reflecting in the water."

She came to me once.

"All the forest birds gather in flocks all over the spring dock"... (4)

She came to me only once, and my life changed forever…

Spring arrives, the scent of incense lingers, the fragrance of flowers and grasses is carried on the spring rain, and the music of Van Cao soars to a sacred high, resuming the rhythm of life. And spring, like the flow of time, though its era may differ, though it may flow over hard rocks and pebbles or barren fields, it always returns to the world on schedule... its pure spring returns!

(NB&CL) Ultimately, we desperately need Tet, we desperately need Spring, yet we truly don't realize it!

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