There is sadness like sunlight falling on my shoulders.

Poet Lữ Hồng's connection with poetry is like a journey back to the source of sadness from the depths of his heart; his verses burst forth like tears, overflowing with longing. In the mountain town of Pleiku, it seems Lữ Hồng has touched upon the four seasons in harmony. His poems are delicate and profoundly melancholic, captivating to read and difficult to put down.

A portrait of the young poet Lu Hong.

The poetry collection " The Window Still Shines Brightly" by poet Lữ Hồng, released to readers at the end of 2024, contains heartfelt reflections as light as a breath, like mist covering the surface of a lake, stirring the heart. It reflects contemplation, gratitude for life, and commitment.

Read slowly to perceive the clear, spring-like flow of emotion, forgiveness, compassion, and the pain that emerges after a long night… There is an acceptance of letting go of all worries, allowing the author to rediscover himself, gently drifting to embrace the tender beauty that life bestows. Where the four seasons pass, like a person's life, so many changes follow one another, while the human heart cannot do anything to change: “On this highland/the warmth of the night is thin as a myth/while the vast cold remains/now I am still myself/like a house without a number” (Night).

Hearing a sigh from the night, imagining a small figure sitting by the window, the night outside drifting gently with a few soft breezes. Everything rushes through the emotions, the poet stands silently to embrace his own shadow: "For over thirty years I dared not suffer/I just smiled like a forest bird that had just eaten sweet fruit/Lonely in the city/Half a lifetime on a small path/Days and months silent with moss and dew" (Self-Reflection).

Cover of the poetry collection "The Window Still Shines Brightly" by poet Lữ Hồng. (Photo: ANH ĐÀO)

Some poems make the reader pause, such as: I Will See You Off, Ancient Tower, If…, Mother and March, The Last Bitter Drops of the Day…

There are many self-reflective questions the author asks himself about time, then leads the reader back to love, youth, and innocence like the sun and wind of the highlands, fading memories: “Has he returned yet? The stones will turn gray/In the memories amidst the forest of youth/That purple twilight, the purple of the sparrow's branch/I long to find him in the depths of the highland eyes” (Mountain Stone); and then “The dream of a life of hardship last night/In the window with a careless lamp/The writer writes a broken line…/January falls in fragments of golden plum blossoms” (Bitter Drops Connecting Days).

Time's delicate footsteps slip away, and the poet seems to have missed the moment of transition, a fleeting encounter on his lips, in a dreamlike sleep filled with adrift longing. It seems the poet weeps and pours himself a cup of loneliness, a loneliness that sprouts green shoots to lull himself into the January moonlight, the vast mountains and forests, and the shadows of time filled with unspoken messages. I reread these haunting verses by Lữ Hồng, my heart aching, as if I myself had just passed through four seasons without refuge: “No one pours me a glass of clear white wine / To burn away the ferocity and turn it into peace, to make bitterness sweet / So I write a poem as proof / That I have softened my lips” (Another spring departs while I lie asleep).

The poetry collection "The Window Still Shines Brightly" encapsulates 50 poems, mostly the latest works by Lu Hong, adding another stream to contemporary poetry. This young writer, with a profound understanding for his age, is able to write and remain faithful to his chosen path, possessing the resilience to firmly commit to poetry – a literary path that is by no means easy to "define." This collection is enough for poetry lovers to read and feel for themselves the value and sincerity the writer conveys.

Among the many young poets today, Lu Hong stands out for knowing how to choose her own unique space for writing. Her style is not boisterous, but rather a series of emotional waves that anchor themselves in the weary realm of words.

I asked her if, when facing the written word, her heart still felt unsettled. Poet Lữ Hồng answered, as if opening the door to the long and arduous path of literature and words: “ Those days in Pleiku felt like winter had arrived. I was always afraid of losing or forgetting something.”

For the young poet Lu Hong, I believe that poetry and life remain two paths that can connect the souls of each person, no matter how far apart they are geographically. That is the ultimate value of literature. There, the window remains lit, a place the poet chooses to return to for refuge after each day's work, and to replenish his energy to remain faithful to his creative path.

On this day of enlightenment in literature, the sun-drenched, windswept path across the red basalt soil that Lu Hong walks to meet her students every day, still filled with the golden hues of wild sunflowers, I believe that the sadness in her poetry will lighten and be filled with abundant compassion.

Regarding the poetry collection "The Window Still Shines Brightly" by poet Lữ Hồng.

Lữ Hồng, whose real name is Nguyễn Lữ Thu Hồng, was born in 1992 in Pleiku. She graduated from the Literature and Linguistics Education program at Quy Nhon University in 2013. She currently teaches at Nghĩa Hưng Secondary School in Nghĩa Hưng commune, Chư Păh district, Gia Lai province. She is a member of the Gia Lai Literature and Arts Association and was a delegate to the 10th National Conference of Young Writers in 2022 in Da Nang . Her published works include: *One Day I Wake Up* (Poetry, Vietnam Writers Association Publishing House, 2017); *Waiting for the Fog in the City* (essays, People's Army Publishing House, 2020); and *The Window Still Lights Up* (Poetry, Vietnam Writers Association Publishing House, 2024).

Source: https://baodaknong.vn/co-noi-buon-nhu-nang-rot-qua-vai-243572.html