[Emagazine]: Lullaby of the Earth

Humans, then all go through impermanence, the body depends on and dissolves into mother earth. Mother earth again protects and embraces each child that returns, comforting it with a gentle lullaby of all time.

I was born and raised in the village, my head covered in the vast golden sunlight and my bare feet stepping on the fragrant mud of the fields. I don’t know since when the river of my homeland has been like a gentle mother’s milk flowing within me. I also don’t know since when, the land where I was born and raised has silently permeated my soul, filled with tolerance like a lullaby on a hammock. To me, the motherland is a peaceful place to return to, to cherish the love of the homeland and feel strangely proud and dear. The motherland has always been like that, supporting, loving, nurturing the seeds. We sow love into the land, the land will bloom with happiness.

The day I took my first steps, mother earth supported me to be more steady. A little older, my childhood was spent running around the countryside, mother earth was the soft grass that nurtured my carefree and innocent childhood days. Mother earth became the road to school, resounding with the bustling sound of the i-to school in my beloved village. I just walked along the warm days, mother earth was the dike, the leisurely sound of the kite flute in the peaceful afternoon. Smoke from someone's kitchen drifted up from the thatched roof in the poor countryside, a flock of white storks flew to a fairyland.

Motherland is where father sowed rice, where mother planted rice, shed drops of sweat and hardship but the harvest smile still shined on her lips. After each load of rice, mother spread it on the ground to dry, the yard in front of the house was golden with the color of rice and the color of sunlight.

The fragrant sticky rice grains from mother earth nurture us to grow up, take us to school, to new horizons. I will always remember the sticky rice balls, sweet potatoes that my mother wrapped in banana leaves for me to take to school or the poor country meals with the fish sauce that my mother hastily prepared with the fresh fish my father had just caught. All of this is thanks to the love that grows from the mother earth.

“Our homeland is immense, mother’s heart is infinitely wide!” (*), whether it is land or mother, love is immense and vast, is that why people call land “mother land”? Because land is mother, land also has lullabies. Lullabies for foolishness, worries, lost souls. I don’t know how many times I returned to my mother’s arms, shedding tears of regret, belatedness mixed with sadness. Mother land has received everything, and from the garden flowers bloom, young green leaves sprout, and the wind of hope also flies from somewhere. Land lulls me to sleep with the song of sacrifice, maturity and in the end, stillness, peace. Stillness and peace like land, no matter the wind, rain, or storms.

Life has taken me through so many ups and downs, looking back I have been attached to the land for decades. Those decades have seen so many reunions and separations, but Mother Earth has always stayed for us. Mother Earth has been a faithful lover since the beginning of the world, no matter where we go, the land is still there to nurture the rice and potato seeds, to nurture the belief in a place to return to that always has its doors open.

Is it true that what is easily obtained makes people not cherish and forget easily? In the midst of this bustling competitive life, everyone wants to step up to the clouds, dreaming of distant things that cannot be achieved. People boast, lie to others, lie to themselves, I also want to pick the stars in the sky but forget that no matter how high I fly, the starting point is still the ground. People also forget that once I fall, the ground always opens its arms to support and protect me. Is there any love as gentle and understanding as mother earth? Is there anyone who can open their arms to embrace the rivers, the mountains, the seas, and not forget the small seeds that are struggling in countless lives until they take shape?

Humans, then all go through impermanence, the body depends on, dissolves into mother earth. Mother earth again protects, embraces each child returning, comforts with the eternal gentle lullaby. The lullaby has mother, has father, has homeland with rice fields and storks. The lullaby has long rivers and wide seas, the lullaby has millions of human hearts drowning in this world.

Then mother earth lulls us into reincarnation!

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(*) Excerpt from the poem "Our immense homeland" by poet Bui Minh Quoc.

Content: Lac Yen

Photo: Nguyen Thang compiled from the Internet

Graphics: Mai Huyen

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/emagazine-loi-ru-cua-dat-252707.htm