In the Royal Garden but missing the Royal Garden…

I have a friend who works at a large company in Ho Chi Minh City. By chance, he took a job at the Hue branch and somehow “accidentally” fell in love with Hue, considering Hue as his hometown.

In 1941, Nguyen Binh wrote a poem “In the Royal Garden, I miss the Royal Garden”, which sounds absurd. Why would one miss that place while sitting and staying there, it is truly “hearing the teeth and yet appearing false”. Perhaps only three idle poets would think of and make up such a strange thing, how could there be such a strange thing? Only later, after playing with him, did I realize that “In the Royal Garden, I miss the Royal Garden” is true, Nguyen Binh was not exaggerating at all.

Why can I boldly assert that? Just look at my friend. He is a businessman, but he also loves the arts. On holidays or weekends, he gathers friends together to drink a few bottles, then sing to each other, sing properly and politely, not sing like a "candy speaker" that makes the neighborhood and streets miserable like they often do. Each occasion like that is to strengthen friendships, and also to relieve stress, recharge energy for new working days. As for him, each occasion like that is also to... cry. He cries not because of sadness or sorrow, but simply to cry... to satisfy his love for Hue , to miss Hue that he has carried forever in his heart. That love and miss is like something very fragile and sensitive, just a light touch and it will immediately vibrate and cannot be stopped. Hue is the same in me, in Hue I still remember, still love, still yearn for it endlessly, so in the party, whenever I hear someone sing: Keep a little bit of Hue, my dear/ Charm is the harmony of heaven and earth/ Even if we are far away, someday I will meet again/ I can still see you drunk on flowers and leaves... I start to sob, then cry heartily, no matter who looks at me, no matter how tears and snot flow down the gentle and lovable face of a man who accidentally fell in love with Ngu mountain and Huong river... Later, I transferred to Ho Chi Minh city, but sometimes I see him still find "excuses" to fly out to Hue. Then he sets up a drinking table by the Huong river. And just by laying eyes on this gentle and dreamy river, I immediately see him with tears in his eyes...

What is it about my Hue that in the past there was Mr. Nguyen Binh “Living in the Royal Garden and missing the Royal Garden”, and now there is you and surely there have been and will be many more people like that. But well, perhaps there is no need to explain, because no words can explain such a strange thing. Just know that “Living in the Royal Garden and missing the Royal Garden”… That verse will follow the waves of the Perfume River and resonate forever…

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