As she passed by, she stopped next to a lim xet tree that had fallen onto the road and put her arms around the tree, “Hello tree, you’re great, keep it up!”. I was surprised and laughed out loud at her action, but she wasn’t joking at all: “Let me introduce you, this is Lim Xet, my friend.” Then she waved at the two trees next to her: “Hello my two neighbors” and turned to smile at me: “You also have to greet the neighbors, otherwise they’ll be sad.” At that moment, I saw that not only her mouth was smiling, but her eyes were smiling as well, her whole body was smiling, she was so happy, so joyful.

Her “friend” Lim Xet is a tree with no top but green branches. She told the story clearly like a tree caretaker: “It was hit by a storm, “falling” at a 45° angle, but it is still standing strong until now. That year the storm was very big, many trees in the park fell, this tree broke its top, it leaned but did not fall. When building the walking path along the Huong River, the construction workers also felt sorry for it, leaving the tree behind, so now it is “impressive”, leaning towards the road like this, everyone passing by has to put their arms around it”.

I also imitated her, leaned over the tree, patted the trunk, and said loudly, "Hello Lim Xet." If anyone saw the two of us at that time, they would probably say we were not normal. "But why is it not normal to love a tree, talk to it, and hug it? I feel happy like I met a friend again. Science has proven that trees can also feel human emotions and communicate with people!" - she said.

What she said made me suddenly realize that Hue people had proven this before scientists. For a long time, Hue people have loved trees, considered trees as friends, shown in the lifestyle, customs of the past and still today, that is, when someone in the family dies, the trees in the garden are also tied with white cloth, as a mourning.

This season, the lim xet tree has yellow flowers, making the whole blue sky charming. After the storm, my friend's lim xet tree has only green leaves and no flowers. She told me: "The two lim xet trees next door are blooming beautifully, but I still love this lim xet tree without flowers because for a tree, being alive is very precious. Does anyone know how much pain the tree has overcome when its top was broken, and being able to keep its green color like this is also very loving. It doesn't matter if it doesn't flower."

I asked: “How fun is it to be friends with a tree?”. She answered without much thought, as if she had concluded it long ago: “It is a quiet, peaceful joy. I do business, sometimes I think too much, my head hurts like a hammer, no medicine can cure it. Then two years of the COVID pandemic, my business got even more painful, I went for a walk in the park, came across this tree, looked at the tree with both sympathy and motivation, sometimes I sat for a long time next to the tree, looked at the tree and felt very comforted. I believe that this resilient lim xet tree has given me a strong source of energy in silence. Since then, I often visit the tree and consider it a friend.”

We sat on a stone bench in the park. The cool green foliage was cool above our heads. Looking along the length of the river, the banks were soft green grass, the flowers and leaves were blooming, the city was as beautiful as a picture. Only by going to many places, looking at the burnt grass on the fields, can we see that the green trees in Hue are a precious heritage that generations of people have relied on the rivers, streams and forests to plant, care for and preserve. Making friends with a tree is a way to open your heart to nature, to be at peace in nature, and also a way for people to be friends with their homeland as the ancients used to say: "Humming happily in the peaceful river/The apricot blossom is an old friend, the crane is an acquaintance" (Nguyen Du).

Nguyen Khoa Dieu Ha

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/lam-ban-voi-cay-153130.html