Royal poinciana and sparrows

One afternoon, I went up Le Ngo Cat Street to Vong Canh Hill, halfway I saw two trees, it was like meeting an old friend from afar. The strongest feeling was when I saw the parasol trees blooming right next to the Truong Tien bridge pier, I counted 6 trees, towering, the flowers filled the sky. Following Le Duan Street from there to the right of Da Vien Bridge to Nguyen Trai Street, turning into the Citadel, on both sides of the road not far away, I would see parasol trees. If I didn't look at the trunk, especially the remaining branches of flowers, I wouldn't recognize it because the young leaves that had just grown were very different from the old leaves. The parasol trees must have been quite old; I wished to see ancient trees with rough trunks, for a simple reason: if the phoenix chose to land, it would have to be a parasol tree like that.

The parasol flowers are very tall, hardly anyone can see them at eye level. I have not known where the parasols are grown in the city, and where the parasols are grown by individuals. Many days off, during my wanderings, I have searched for parasols like a soul mate. From the second lunar month, parasol flowers begin to bloom, close to the blooming time of the species that I have noticed, the xoan and bun flowers, they are all tall, woody plants; only the parasol has a straight figure, stretching its branches to bloom in the pure sky.

The beautiful parasol flower is at its peak when it has just bloomed and the leaves have fallen. At this time, the light pink color of the flower blends with the light purple color to create a magical spring color. If the tree is in a clean garden or a place with little traffic or dust, the flower will not be faded by dust, the bright color has a strange attraction.

Parasol tree on the roof of Ta Vu - Hue Forbidden City

I have traveled to many places and heard stories about the old days when there were large parasol trees in the suburbs, but people did not know the noble value of the flowers, so they cut them down. This is really sad for flower lovers, because the beauty of parasol trees was originally discovered long ago; it was only when people liked to take pictures to mark memories, and thanks to the spread of endlessly beautiful artistic photos of parasol flowers on social networks, that it was truly appreciated more.

Once, on the national highway from Phu Bai, I turned left onto the shortcut to the new Trung Nu Vuong street. Near the middle of that corner, I discovered two parasol trees that were probably several decades old and had yet to bloom. I recognized them while driving because their leaves were larger than those of the Tra tree, although they looked somewhat similar. The two trees stood close to each other like good friends on the left side of the Nguyen Van family church in Da Le.

From that day on, every weekend I went down to see if it had bloomed; by the second week I saw the pink flowers stretching out in the far corner of the sky. The afternoon sunlight shone obliquely, making the flowers blush like a young girl’s cheeks. I felt the change of the darker color and then quiet in the gentle wind. A few leaves had fallen, flying far away before touching the green grass. I stood there for a long time, and came back the following week; it was the most beautiful time, on a day in the middle of April. I noticed that every branch that had lost all its leaves was replaced by flowers. Other branches had leaves that started to turn yellow, mixed with green, and others were half green and half yellow. The pink color of the flowers, the color of the yellow-green leaves, the color of the sky and white clouds, the clear sunlight of a morning made the natural picture tinged with illusion.

I have crossed Truong Tien Bridge many times and seen the parasol flowers there, but I only stood and admired them from afar. I wished to see the parasol trees that few people came to, like a beauty that my selfish heart wanted to see for itself. I intended to visit these two parasol trees in all seasons of the year, to see how they looked from the time they bloomed until they withered and grew new leaves, each week, and what shape they had in each season.

I wish there was a road planted with parasol trees, a few trees would be great, or in a heritage alley, a special place associated with ancient Hue or even next to modern architecture. That was my wish before I “saw” it; but when I traveled more, I realized that the city had already planted them. First, we looked at the parasol tree near the Phu Van Lau flagpole, so beautiful. Then there was another tree that I really liked, located in the yard where the statue of Phan Boi Chau was placed, it was almost opposite the famous Truong Tien Royal Poinciana tree on the other side of the walking street.

Then one beautiful weekend in April, I went to Thuy Tien Lake to see what the giant dragon was like now, and was surprised and happy beyond words. I have been here many times, and also took many pictures of the dragon associated with beautiful memories with my family; together we followed the trail around Thuy Tien Lake, a path with very few people because the trees had grown out, the road was badly damaged (not as beautiful as it is now); I followed the edge of the lake a couple of times on a drought day last year, although I had never known about the parasol tree, perhaps because I had not noticed it. Today, I parked my bike to look at the newly "cleaned" dragon, and I discovered a parasol tree blooming right next to the bridge abutment leading to the dragon on the other side. I stood on this side of the lake, wondering why there was a parasol tree blooming without me knowing. The tree was blooming high up. Suddenly looking sideways, I realized that on the other side of the lake, there was a whole row of parasol trees planted, the tree I saw seemed to be the biggest. Thuy Tien Lake becomes a community tourism space, the parasol trees will be the highlight on the romantic, dreamy lakeside. I counted thirteen trees, one was still young, the other was bare of leaves but had no flowers, seemingly dry branches. I walked back to the deserted road on the other side of the lake, to the flowering parasol tree to take a photo with my phone, it was too tall to have a good photo but I took the photo to know that the dragon once stood next to a parasol tree remembering the brilliant sky.

Sitting under the shady sycamore tree with other trees, carrying a cup of coffee, I was able to admire another legendary beauty. I still think that the sycamore tree does not have to wait for the phoenix, because the phoenix always sees the sycamore tree whenever it silently flies through peaceful spaces...

Article: Nhuy Nguyen - Photo: Bao Minh