Leisure talk: Autumn night

1. You sent me a photo of an "unripe" autumn with the caption: "Leaves starting to change color." You explained further: "In the Northwest and Northeast of America, the leaves are mostly red. In the South, the leaves are mostly yellow. Where I live, there are mountains, plains, valleys, and lakes. When autumn comes, the leaves change color depending on the coldness. The high mountains get cold first, then the foot of the mountains, then the valleys, and finally the cities. If the high mountains start to change color now, then by the end of November, the valleys and cities will have the colors of autumn. By then, the autumn on the high mountains will have faded since the end of October."

A few years ago, I had a friend who "led" me on from a friend of a friend of a friend. We chatted on Viber, talking about this and that. One golden autumn, my friend regretted the days he spent driving to work to see the beautiful scenery "alone", he texted me wanting to share the beautiful golden autumn with me and asked if I agreed?

Now that you're at work, I've just finished dinner in Vietnam, so I nod. For weeks, whenever it's time for you to go to work, I sit at the computer to watch you broadcast live on the phone. Every day, I'm full of yellow and red leaves on both sides of the road. I know by heart the path you take, where to turn left and right. And at the end, it's always: "When I get to work, I'll turn it off. The leaves are still beautiful, come with me tomorrow." I understand the happiness of sharing, having something to share is real.

I feel happy not only because I get to see the golden and red autumns on the other side of the world vividly, with the added live narration; but also because I get to live in the digital age, an ocean away but as close as if I were sitting in the car with my friend on the way to work, talking about all sorts of things, watching the autumn pass by. Everything seems to have no distance of time, space, or geographical location...

2. Saigon this season has some days with blinding sunshine, where can we find autumn with romantic yellow leaves even on mild autumn afternoons!

Yet one night, I met my fellow residents to eat, drink and chat until late at night. Because the apartment building was close by, the whole group decided to walk, finding a long way home to make the night longer because we rarely got to wander around in the gentle weather late at night like this. And surprisingly, on the road we passed, the night was quiet, every house was asleep, the yellow lights cast shadows hugging the rows of trees along the road, making the night have an incredibly peaceful yellow color. One friend suddenly exclaimed: "Autumn night", then he sang softly: "The moon shines in the garden at night. Flowers stand still like sad eyes. My heart is stirred. Listening to the words of the flowers. Petals are sad in the wind. The scent of love is gently intoxicating. The wind blows ...".

The whole group seemed to "freeze" in the autumn night space with your clear singing voice. Everyone stood there without telling each other to look at the night sky and the row of yellow leaves (because of the yellow lights) which were both strange and familiar, like they hadn't seen each other for a long time.

"Through the leaves and branches. The moonlight spreads gently. Lulls the soul into longing...".

Your voice rose high, a little coy. "The night is sad. The sound of autumn seems to whisper. In the row of trees, deep in dreams..." . After a long time, we seemed to have just come out of our dream when you sang the last words of the song Autumn Night by Dang The Phong: "The moon gradually sets. The grass and trees grow more silent. Winter is sad in the starlight. As if looking into my eyes, so cold. Shaking my soul and then disappearing".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhan-dam-dem-thu-185241207162035413.htm