Under the Royal Poinciana Tree That Year

People often say: Royal poinciana is the flower of students, the flower of farewells. As for me, there is no farewell day, nor have I ever attended a graduation ceremony. To me, Royal poinciana is simply a beautiful flower, blooming brilliantly on the canopy of old trees…

Leaving school early, I followed my parents to struggle to make ends meet. While my friends were still innocent in class, I was used to helping my mother set up shop at the market. There were days when I passed the school gate and saw my friends gathered together laughing and joking under the red phoenix tree, their white shirts fluttering in the sun. I stopped for a moment, not because I was sad, but because suddenly a thousand things quietly drifted by in my heart.

I just hid outside the fence, among the bunches of vegetables and fish bowls. Under the royal poinciana tree, there were no sitting on stone benches, no writing in the autograph book, no carving of names on the tree trunk. But the royal poinciana still dropped its petals on my shoulders, the cicadas still chirped loudly in my ears, all of which, although not from the classroom, were still a part of my own beautiful memories.

Once, a student holding a bunch of royal poinciana flowers, smiling brightly, turned to show me: “Sister, are the flowers beautiful? I brought them home to press in my notebook to make them look beautiful!” I smiled and replied with a simple sentence: “Very beautiful”. And even more radiant than the sun. Perhaps, I did not have a complete student life like her, but I still feel the beauty of summer from the small and good things around me.

I grew up without the sound of school drums, but with the sound of afternoon cries, the clattering of bicycles and my mother's sighs after days of making a living. I did not have royal poinciana flowers associated with farewells to class, but royal poinciana flowers on the sidewalk, royal poinciana flowers on the village road, royal poinciana flowers blooming on the hot roof. The more I grow up, the more I realize: Royal poinciana flowers do not choose where to bloom, they just bloom to their fullest, whether in the schoolyard or on the sidelines of life. Like me, although I am different from everyone else, I still try to live a decent life every day.

Every summer, royal poinciana trees bloom red on the roads I have passed. There is no schoolyard, no farewell ceremony, but there are still memories to remember, to cherish. Under the royal poinciana trees that year, I not only grew up, but also learned to appreciate what I have and quietly preserve the beautiful things in my own way.

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/duoi-tan-phuong-nam-ay-a421225.html