To make broken things heal

In “A Whole Flowing Stream”, the poem “A Moment” is an impressive quatrain: “A dream sown since the beginning of time/ A heart of mulberry trees, late love/ The moon is a mass of mist/ What else is there to compensate for the passion/ What love is cold and windy/ What love is sunny and full of my sorrow” .

This is a lyrical poem rich in contemplation, flowing in a vein of emotions both classical and dreamy, opening up different layers of time. “The dream sowed from the beginning of time” - a very unique opening line. The dream does not only come from the present, but seems to sow seeds from the “beginning of time” - the beginning of the universe, evoking a primitive dream, a love from a previous life, fateful, beyond the present time.

“A heart full of ups and downs, late in love” - a beautiful verse in “A Moment”. In which, “ups and downs” can be understood as change, ups and downs; “late in love” can be understood as love that does not come early, but lasts and is delayed like a debt of love that has not been paid. The image of a person carrying in his heart a feeling from the beginning of time, overcoming many ups and downs and still not free from entanglement because of love.

The moon is usually bright and pure, a symbol of clarity, but here, the moon becomes “a mass of mist” – opaque and dreamy. A creative distortion of the image: Love is no longer pure, but a mass of suffocation, covered in mist.

“What else is there to compensate for the passion” - a line of poetry that evokes a feeling of emptiness and loss, as if after all the longing and passion, what remains is just a shadow and nothing is enough to compensate. A line of poetry that sounds like a quiet sigh.

“What love is always cold and windy/What love is always sunny and full of my sorrow” - the two final lines show: Love is often fragile, extremely painful and not easy to escape.

The poem is a journey from primitive fantasy to multidimensional emotional reality. The verses are intense, the music is soft and compressed, using natural images to illuminate very human emotional states from the beginning to the present. The poem also affirms: Love is a sadness, but it is a beautiful sadness that haunts and cannot be broken.

Such moments are not lacking in Nguyen Thi Kim Lan's poetry. They are only expressed brilliantly in one way or another. She not only writes about love but also writes about many other topics. Sometimes the topic is just an excuse to send and confide. It can be summarized: "The afternoon wine is full of nostalgia/ Then stop being drunk - gradually increase / Take off your passion and cover up your sorrow/ One day, my love will be endless" ("Then come visit once"); "The path of love is now covered with moss/ The old porch has several pale afternoon rays" ("The days and months are wandering"); "The long sunny slope widens the horizon/ The migratory shadow with the lingering human life" ("Early Autumn"); "Love is gone, then love is gone/ The moon's breathing season is gone/ The moon's breathing season is gone/ The moon's breathing season is gone!" ("Then it's gone"); “The Lam River is bewildered and murky/ The distant color is stained with smoke from burning the fields and me/ The evening glow urges the waves to celebrate their first birthday/ The corn bank is no longer orphaned by itself/ Who broke the red thread/ Who urged the ten warm fingers to tie it painfully?” (“Afternoon on the Lam River”), “I am alone, still alone/ Too much rain must be sunny, too much night must be day” (“Whispering to April”)...

Nguyen Thi Kim Lan's six-eight poetry is unique, both flexible and varied, with profound meanings... The words she uses are often very valuable, and are placed in prime positions, creating new meanings. It feels like she has escaped the strict constraints of rhyme in this traditional poetry genre, writing on her own. The words: "Ngau" in "Men chieu ngau nhung noi hoi", "tuy luy" in "Thi thoi tuy luy lac - boi tron qua", "phong moss" in "Loi yeu gio da phong moss", "mo co" in "Bo ngo da khat mo co tu minh"... are specific, vivid, memorable examples.

But all in all, the poetry in “A Whole Flowing Stream” is a bright look at the eternal beauty of love and faith in people. That’s why in “The Seasons of Young Leaves”, she wrote: “I wish you were a seed/ sowing in me/ a deep-rooted, lasting love” . That’s why in “Singing in the Silence”, she wrote: “Please give me some green leaves/ to look up/ to hope…/ Please give me a meaning/ so that all the brokenness/ can heal…” .

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/de-bao-nhieu-do-vo-lai-lanh-715958.html