'My country, slender like a drop of the zither'...

(PLVN) - The land allows me to stand and gaze at the sky, the water quenches my thirst during droughts… And, as someone once said, the homeland can also be a place where the soul merges with its roots, culture, and aspirations for freedom.

But I still can't fully understand: What is a country? Perhaps a country is like the never-empty "Thach Sanh's magic rice pot," providing our nation with a vast "golden forest and silver sea" stretching from the Lung Cu flagpole to the Ca Mau Cape, from graphite gold, ruby ​​red stones, and the precious woods of the Northwest mountains to the rich alluvial soil from the upper reaches where the Red River flows into Vietnam, to the fertile delta plains. Or the salty sea air and abundant fish and shrimp of the Central region, and the generous South...

Perhaps, the country is also a harbor, an airport, or a haven for the soul? So that each Vietnamese person, after achieving success and spreading their wings, can fly across the five continents with their talent and strength – no matter where they live in the world , they remain Vietnamese, with red blood and yellow skin, their hearts always turned towards their homeland. Or they may travel far, only to return...

My country is steeped in folk songs, the melodies of the zither, the lullabies of mothers – inspiring each soul, leading to emotional upliftment, overflowing with meaning, and poems that endure through the years, all stemming from there. Perhaps, perhaps… that’s what my country is like, simple and rustic, like the fields of my homeland…

When I grew up, the country already existed. (Illustrative image - Source: internet)

And the country is a glorious legend from ancient times, when Mother Au Co gave birth to a sack of eggs, and a hundred children grew up following their father to the forest and their mother to the sea, beginning the history of the Dragon and the Immortal descendants… From the lineage of dragons and immortals, my country, my people, for over 4,000 years have painted a magnificent historical picture. That is the ancestor Kinh Duong Vuong, Mother Au Co, and Father Lac Long Quan. That picture also includes the 18 Hung Kings who founded and defended the nation… Thanks to this, through thousands of years of history, my country still “curves like a mother's back,” towering high like the aspirations of my father. That is the history forged by our ancestors over thousands of years, clearly recorded in the first Declaration of Independence of my country:

"The mountains and rivers of the Southern Kingdom belong to the Southern Emperor."

"Destiny is clearly determined in the Book of Heaven…".

My country is so beautiful! And, like generations before me, as long as I carry the blood of the descendants of Lac and Hong, I know how to cherish and value every inch of land, every drop of blood and bone left behind by my ancestors.

Therefore, in the past, even if "a hundred of our bodies lay exposed in the fields, a thousand of our corpses wrapped in horsehide," we were determined to "defend our borders"; "human strength could stop the hooves of the Mongol cavalry"; "even individual wooden stakes could pierce the invading ships..."

At that time, with the country in decline and the people suffering, the nation, deeply bound by loyalty and devotion, gave birth to a saintly figure who sacrificed his entire life for the country and its people. The revered father of the nation toiled for thirty long years in search of truth for the nation, giving birth to the country on September 2nd, 1945. He led the nation through protracted and arduous resistance wars to the earth-shattering victory at Dien Bien Phu and the historic reunification of the country on April 30th, 1975.

For the country, for the nation, the father "went away without looking back," leaving behind "a sun-drenched path covered with fallen leaves"; and the mother wiped away tears countless times as she bid her sons farewell, silently weeping because "her sons would not return," leaving behind only a few words: "My son, you go, I will remain, living a hundred years with gray hair. Consider that you will always be by my side. Consider that you have lived your whole life for the future of the Fatherland..." Putting aside the pain of losing her son, the legendary Heroic Mother of Vietnam, though with only two breasts, nurtured hundreds of guerrilla fighters. Even after they left, Mother Thu... still bid her sons farewell!

Those sons and daughters did not betray their country, their parents, or their loved ones; some soldiers used their blood and flesh to block machine gun emplacements, and no one forgets the soldiers of Uncle Ho who used their bodies to stop artillery wheels...

To better understand the country, go to Hoa Lo Prison, Con Dao Island, Phu Quoc Island… to witness the losses and suffering of the nation, to remember those small, frail people whose skin was torn and flesh ripped, whose bones were pierced by pins, yet they still looked towards the national flag stained with the blood of their fathers and ancestors… never once betraying their mothers' wishes or their fathers' aspirations.

There, their feet were strong and unyielding, so they did not kneel before the enemy's guns and spears. The sons were separated from their mothers for the sake of their country, but when they fell, the country rose again. And their mothers' hearts will forever embrace their sons – the young men who will forever remain twenty years old – as they have become one with the mountains, rivers, trees, and plants.

We were born into a peace that was bought at the cost of our ancestors' blood and flesh. Every Vietnamese heart still carries within it a heroic, indomitable spirit, and will never lose the fervent love for our country that has long been ingrained in our very being. This is my country, beautiful as a mother's lullaby, as if it had never gone through the long, arduous, and tragic wars of resistance!

Gia Hai

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/dat-nuoc-toi-thon-tha-giot-dan-bau-post547886.html