Spring at mother

Mother's hair is white as white clouds, all her life long.

White threads to the end of rain and sun

The cane leads the way slowly

Mother leans on the thin pieces of time

This spring we did not have time to visit

The train is crowded and the children are too small.

Children often remind themselves of their mother.

Grandma's call still calls from afar

I know now mom is fluttering in and out

Spring neighbor chirping

Mother's eyes are weak but still keep the brightest part

Though small, the light in front of the porch

Spring comes and goes

Such young silk does not make mother's hair green

How much sunshine is focused on the eldest child

How much love for grandchildren to be grandmother

Mother is only young on a part of longing

On a part of the stick to go in and out.

TRAN QUANG QUY

Comment:

Poet Tran Quang Quy is a person with many beautiful and haunting poems when writing about his mother, about the countryside where he was born and raised with so much love and gratitude. I am still very impressed with the verse he wrote: "Mother reaps the field or the field reaps mother". His poetry is good in such adversities. March is the spring season with a day for women, for mothers. The poem "Spring in Mother's Place" is a rather delicate poetic discovery. Spring is often the season of green buds sprouting in nature while mother is getting older and withered, but in the poet's perspective and feeling, he has recognized a vitality, a lasting spring vitality that has been revived from mother.

“Spring in Mother’s Place” begins with: “Her hair is as white as white clouds, all her years / The white strands reach the end of the rain and sun”. He does not talk about the end of the years and months of time following the rules, but “the end of the rain and sun”. That is the end of the hardships and difficulties of her life. The image of her appearing with white hair, with a cane in the space of spring is haunting and evokes many associations in a situation: “This spring we have not had time to visit” when “The Tet train is crowded, the children are too young”. This poem was written by the poet in 1984, reminding us of a difficult time when the country had just passed the war with the difficult subsidy period. It was the dire situation when the children: “The call of grandmother still calls from afar” that awakened in the poet’s mind the image: “Knowing that at this hour, mother flutters in and out / The neighbor in spring chirping”. Spring comes, Tet comes, the scenes of family reunion make the reader's heart ache when the mother waits for her child alone in a far away place.

The sentimental poem, like a slow-motion film, suddenly sparkles with two beautiful and touching verses: “Mother’s eyes are weak, but she still leaves the brightest part/ Though small, it shines in front of the porch.” A condensation of sentiment, a central spring vitality. The bright space in front of the porch flutters with hope. The porch has a threshold, where mother often sits and chews betel; the porch is the place to shield her from the sun and rain of her life. The verse is truly haunting and haunting.

The last stanza is different from the first three stanzas in that the six lines open up a new space, a new mood when he keeps worrying: "Spring will come and go / Young silk like that cannot make mother's hair green". An adversity, a truth, a contemplation. It is the experience that has allowed the poet to proactively realize: "How much sunshine is concentrated on the eldest child". The sunshine here is the warm sunshine of human love, the mother receives so much loss in order to wish to give all the best to her children and grandchildren: "How much love for her grandchildren to be a grandmother". What a silent, silent but noble sacrifice. The last two lines of poetry penetrate the mother's spring, which is very fragile but full of love and savings when: "Mother is only young on a part of longing / On a part of the cane going in and out". That is also the spring of mother's life, the hope of mother's life, the small joy of mother. The beginning of the poem has the image of a walking stick and the end of the poem is also the walking stick, which is like a support for the spring of mother's life. Twice the poet emphasizes "a part" not only in terms of quantity but it is a sudden energy from quality. Because more than anyone else in the heart of every poet, each of us has the image of a mother and the understanding of "spring in mother" is a priceless spiritual gift for mother with much love and respect.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202503/mua-xuan-noi-me-c0466fc/