Listen to poet Hoai Vu tell the story of the river

Poet Hoai Vu through sketches by Le Sa ​​Long.

A lifetime in debt to the river

Poet Hoai Vu was born in 1935, his hometown is Quang Ngai . During the resistance war years, he participated in literary and artistic activities in the South. He once held the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Liberation Literature and Arts Newspaper.

Since the country's liberation, he has successively held the positions of: Member of the Editorial Board of the Literature and Arts Weekly - Vietnam Writers' Association; Chairman of the Translation Literature Council - Ho Chi Minh City Writers' Association; Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper...

When he learned that I was from Nong Son, Quang Nam , he patted me on the shoulder and said that at the age of eleven or twelve he had joined the Youth Army, serving in the Logistics Department of the 5th Military Region Command.

During that time, he traveled all over the Military Region, and wherever he did not know in Quang Nam, he also set foot on Deo Le. When I told him that the other side of Deo Le had changed a lot, there was Phuong Ranh Pass that quickly took Nong Son people to Da Nang. He nodded, very happy, because back then the roads were difficult and the people had a lot of difficulties.

Quang Nam people and our 9X generation, although growing up and attached to the mother river Thu Bon, have more than once hummed along to the song: "In the Red River, do you know, my hometown also has a river, I always call with my heart, Oh Dong Vam Co, Dong Vam Co..." which is often broadcast on TV and radio.

Throughout his creative career, Hoai Vu’s works are filled with the image of the Dong Nai River. Besides Dong Nai River, there are also “Anh o dau song em cuoi song”, “Thi tho voi dong song”… These works have been set to music and resonate throughout the country.

The heavy debt to the river comes from his fighting journey. That is Long An land crisscrossed by rivers, people depend on the river to live, soldiers also depend on the river to fight.

He remembers a flood season, the water rose so high that many people had to live on treetops. The dead had no place to be buried so they had to be tied up in mats and staked, waiting for the water to recede before they could be buried.

The flood season is so vast, but when the water dries up, looking down at Ba Den Canal, one feels heartbroken. White skeletons appear. Those are comrades, soldiers who sacrificed their lives and lay at the bottom of the river.

He said, once while rowing a boat on the canal, the beam of a female liaison officer got tangled in a long black hair. That hair belonged to a female soldier who had sacrificed herself, her body floating like water hyacinth on the water. Because of what he had experienced and witnessed, the river for Hoai Vu not only flowed in his poems, but for him it was flesh and blood, it was life.

Fate with musician from Quang Nam

Musician Thuan Yen is from Quang Nam. Poet Hoai Vu is from Quang Ngai. Yet both of them are passionate about the Vam Co Dong River.

Collections of poet Hoai Vu

Perhaps, everywhere in Vietnam, every river is filled with love for the homeland. Musician Thuan Yen, with the sympathy of an artist, set the poem “Quiet Sunset” by Hoai Vu to music, creating the very famous song “Chia tay hoang hon”.

Although it is romantic and full of love, no one knows that the circumstances of the poem's birth are very special. One time, around three or four o'clock in the morning, poet Hoai Vu and his comrades were walking across a field, being chased by tanks disguised under a pile of straw, each person had to run in a different direction.

He ran to a village, and when he reached a house with the door closed, he collapsed from exhaustion. He weakly knocked on the door, the door was slightly ajar, and after making sure it was “him”, the girl let him in and cooked him porridge. In the afternoon, he asked to go to the base. But the enemy was searching for him, how could he get through enemy territory?

A girl named Hanh just thought of a way. She gave him a traditional Vietnamese outfit, put a conical hat on him, and gave him a hoe. The two of them would pretend to be husband and wife coming home from work in the fields.

Poet Hoai Vu recounted that on the way, Ms. Hanh kept reminding him to walk normally and not to worry... The enemy soldiers with guns were watching, but when they saw the poor couple, they let them pass. The two of them went through enemy territory and walked for a long time until they reached a field.

Ms. Hanh said it was safe here, he could return to the base. She burst into tears and said, “Have a safe trip, come back soon to liberate us.” He walked away, and the girl stood there watching him in the fading sunset… At that moment, the verses of the poem “Quiet Sunset” came to him.

I have to go home, away from you!
The market is long over outside.
The last drops of sunlight fall on my hair
But the words of farewell never came to my lips…

Later, poet Hoai Vu returned to find Miss Hanh - his benefactor. He followed his memories back to the old village. He was moved when he saw the bright red bougainvillea tree in the sunlight. However, the village was still there but the old people were no longer in the old place. Feeling emotional because he returned to find Miss Hanh but could not find her, the poet wrote the poem "Whispering with the River". And this poem was also set to music by musician Thuan Yen.

Still distant and boundless
Halfway across the river and several fields
Whose paper flowers look so red?
Will you wait for me when I come home at noon?

Hoai Vu’s poems have been given wings by musicians and spread across the country. Among them are musicians from Quang Nam and Da Nang. Besides Thuan Yen, we must also mention musician Phan Huynh Dieu.

The poet recounted that in his memoirs, musician Phan Huynh Dieu once recounted a time when he was working on a cassava plantation and heard a group of soldiers singing the song “Vam Co Dong” as they walked. The musician was so moved that he wondered why there was such a strange river and he hoped that in the future he would have the opportunity to write a song about this river.

After 1975, Phan Huynh Dieu moved from the North to the South and composed the song "Anh o dau song em cuoi song" by Hoai Vu. This is one of the songs that made Phan Huynh Dieu famous in revolutionary music.

Poems that come from the heart

During the war, writing had to be done in a hurry, there was no time to polish. He said that because he was on the battlefield, the poems written while bombs were ringing in his ears, during breaks on the road were the most sincere words and emotions.

Like the poem “Vam Co Dong” he wrote while waiting for dawn, waiting for the liaison to lead him across the river. Looking at the flowing river, looking at the brave young liaison, he was moved and wrote very quickly. After finishing the poem, he made two copies because he knew that war was full of uncertainties. One copy was sent to the liaison to send to the Liberation Radio Station so it wouldn’t be lost, the other copy was kept in his shirt pocket.

When talking to me, he could not hide his emotion. 50 years have passed, now he is 90 years old, he has never stopped missing his old comrades and comrades. Some of them died when they were very young. He remembers the courier who took him across the Vam Co Dong River, misses Ms. Lan, Ms. Hanh… His little girls, flesh and blood, who brought peace to the country.

He said that the happiness of a writer is to have people remember his works. Every time the people of Long An welcomed him back, they called him "Mr. Vam Co Dong". That made him happy, not needing a title or great things. In the countryside, on every wedding occasion, songs set to music from his poems still resounded somewhere bustlingly. Every time he heard it, he was moved to tears!

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/nghe-nha-tho-hoai-vu-ke-chuyen-dong-song-3153766.html