Tien Phuoc in the season of white trumpet flowers

I feel like I am in the middle of a poem, where the language, structure, and rhetorical devices... do not follow any rules. That is the feeling of someone who is in the middle of the most poetic season of his homeland. The season of golden sưa flowers in the land of the Fairies.

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The name "yellow sưa" is to distinguish it from the white sưa (also known as thuc bach diep or huynh dan trang) in the capital Hanoi. For a long time, yellow sưa has been planted by farmers in many gardens and hills to get wood or to keep the soil and garden banks from being washed away or collapsed. Sưa is suitable for the terrain and soil of semi-mountainous areas and is very easy to grow and live.

Many su trees growing naturally in the corner of the garden have become ancient trees with trunks larger than a person's arms, rough bark, roots spreading out very firmly, and tree canopies spreading shade over an entire area. In winter, su leaves turn pale yellow and then fall back to mother earth. Life is magical and mysterious. Looking at the su gardens, rows of su trees with pale branches in the cold winter, it is hard to believe that this is the time when the trees accumulate life sap. In winter, they carefully hide the leaves and flower clusters as gifts to heaven and earth.

Usually around the end of March, the beginning of April, the clusters of buds of the sua tree begin the flowering season. The first batch of flowers is like a prelude in a piece of music, with a predictive nature. Then about a week or ten days later, the most brilliant and fresh batch of flowers bloom everywhere. It is difficult to describe the feelings of a person “walking on the fragrant road” when one early morning, in the drifting mist, suddenly surprised to see everywhere covered in yellow.

Look at the golden silk on both banks reflecting the water, the Tien River slowly flows. Look at the ancient sưa tree leaning in the corner of the garden, quietly spreading its color and fragrance. Look at the rows of sưa trees leisurely on both sides of the road as if singing the song "when you come to my life, the golden flowers are brilliant, a whiff of fragrance flies across the summer sky..." (Trinh Cong Son). Look at the winding village road charming the rice fields. The rice is turning yellow. The yellow of the sun, the yellow of the flowers on the green background of the ripe spring. On these occasions, people who love to admire the scenery will go to the high hills, looking far away to see the layers of yellow near and far with a feeling of excitement...

But the spring dress only shines brightly for two days. The indifference of the flower is like "coming without appointment, leaving without waiting", no one needs to "thank the flower for blooming for me", leaving behind a lingering regret. The wind at the end of the day becomes a moment of golden rain everywhere, sending off the fragile flower petals into golden silk ribbons wrapped around the mother earth. The thin flower petals must sing farewell to the sunlight, farewell to the clouds. Life is endless but beauty is too fragile. The feeling of wanting to cherish and hold on to beauty is replaced by the bewilderment "who has just passed through my life"...

The terrible storm named Molave ​​in 2020 caused many Sua gardens in Tien land to collapse or be uprooted. The following Sua flowers still bloomed but only sparsely. It was not until four or five years later that Sua flowers truly revived and gave life a season of breathtakingly beautiful flowers. The miracle of spring and the mystery of plants and trees are forever magical, reminding us to cherish life, cherish and enjoy every precious moment in life.

I naively wish I had many miracles to make the rows of sua trees, sua gardens, and sua hills of my hometown bloom and keep their yellow color in the sunlight.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/channel/5433/202504/tien-phuoc-mua-hoa-sua-4003526/