Poet Thanh Trac Nguyen Van shared: During a trip to Phong Nha cave, I was captivated by the wild and magical beauty of nature here. That feeling became even deeper after a chance meeting in Hue with a female zither artist from Quang Binh (formerly) with a sweet voice. And I wrote the poem “Goodbye Phong Nha” as a special gift for the land and people here.
What is quite surprising is that the author described Phong Nha as “Midnight the moon sets on the river”. Perhaps, in that magical, romantic setting, the human soul can easily open up to receive the deepest emotions. The poem begins with a separation where the person leaving is none other than the author. That lingering moment is completely encapsulated in two evocative verses: “The person leaving, missing, sinking in longing/The poem left behind forever drifting”.
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| The combination of poetry and music has brought to the public a good song about the topic of Quang Tri tourism - Photo: Nh.V |
If the first stanza opens up a magical space at night, then in the second stanza, the author takes the reader into a magical, fairy-tale world . “The Fairy Cave is in the sky/I follow and quickly hold on to the tangled silk thread/Look at you with your dreamy hair/The Giant looks at you, pretending not to know you…”.
In this verse, the author recalls the deep impressions on the journey to explore Phong Nha cave. The magical beauty of Tien cave is poeticized into a fairyland, making the lyrical character feel lost in a surreal world. Before that overwhelming beauty, the character "I" is both infatuated and regretful, wanting to "hurriedly hold on" but "the silk threads are tangled". The names of the caves, the names of the rocks, and the stalactites of Phong Nha and Tien Son caves are vividly personified. That is "the girl with dreamy hair" despite "the Giant pretending not to know her"...
The author skillfully breathed life into the stone, turning the cave space into a palace of legend and love, where the boundary between human and nature, between reality and fantasy is almost erased.
The verse "The cup of passion is drained with the dark night/The auspicious autumn wind also sneaks back/Phong Nha waves crash on all sides/Quickly catch the oath to give to you" is a lyrical verse, expressing the author's emotional climax before the moment of parting with Phong Nha - a natural space that is both real and dreamy.
Right after the stillness of the night is the surprising movement of the “autumn wind”. The interesting thing here is that the author used the reduplicative word “rạo hồng” to express the excitement and bustle. That wind did not blow violently but only “stealthily returned”, very gently and delicately as if afraid of disturbing people’s private space. In that space, the oath was not spoken but “received” because that oath was formed from the intoxication of the “strong cup”, was matched by the “rạo hồng autumn wind”… becoming the most precious item to “give to you”. It was the crystallization of all the most passionate and sincere things.
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| “Phong Nha First Wonder” was translated into English with the hope of promoting tourism - Photo: Nh.V |
The last verse continues to complete the picture of nature with the image of the Son River: “The Son River is still forever/The singing voice of Quang Nam is always swaying with sadness”. This is the author’s subtle wordplay. The Son River is the proper name of a river with green water in the dry season and red alluvium when the rainy season comes. The word “still” has a symbolic meaning, expressing loyalty, depth, and not fading over time. The beauty of Phong Nha and the “singing voice of Quang Nam” are always “sad and swaying”, becoming an indelible mark in the poet’s mind. The last verse is divided into three lines, like a lingering note, pushing the poet’s emotions to the climax and also the answer to everything: “Your smile is spread on the deep river/I will pick it up after a hundred years/Still the color of longing…”.
Poet Thanh Trac Nguyen Van, whose real name is Nguyen Van Tao, is a Physics teacher at Vo Thi Sau High School (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training). He is currently retired. He has many published poetry collections such as: White Plumeria, Summer Memories, Whispering Grass Flowers, Winter Gift, Moon Tears, Legend of the Ferryman, Humming Songs... In Thanh Trac Nguyen Van's poetry, readers encounter love for the homeland, love for couples, the desire to live, to contribute... expressed through a romantic writing style, filled with optimism and a passionate heart for life.
The verse ends with an ellipsis, leaving a silence, an endless vastness of nostalgia like the Son River still flowing, like the Quang folk song voice still "sadly swaying".
Musician Le Duc Tri said: Reading the poem "Goodbye Phong Nha", I felt the author's affection for this tourist destination, so I contacted him to compose the poem into a song called "Phong Nha De Nhat Ky Quan" with the Ca Tru melody. Since its release, the song has quickly received public acceptance, performed by many famous singers and won the B prize at the Literature and Art Creation Campaign on the occasion of the 420th anniversary of the formation of Quang Binh province (old). The song has also been translated into English with the desire to spread the image and beauty of the land and people here to international friends.
Nh.V
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa/202510/noi-nho-phong-nha-7c20e82/
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