Nguyen Trong Tao - A talented and personable person from Nghe An

I have been close to poet Nguyen Trong Tao for more than a third of a century. To me, he is a musician, a poet, a literary critic, a journalist, a brother, a talented friend, rich in personality from Nghe An. Living with him is always happy, trusting, humorous, loving people, loving life, respecting poetry and literature, fellow countrymen and colleagues.

Musician and poet Nguyen Trong Tao is a person who: Likes to drink alcohol without getting drunk. Smokes a lot without being addicted. Takes poetry and music as a source of joy. Takes his homeland as a fulcrum. Takes IT to apply, connect, share and spread. Therefore, he always lives in people's hearts and people always exist in his memories.

Last year he had a stroke, the times I visited him, I saw that he recovered quite quickly, I was very happy. But the joy did not last long, I heard that he had terminal lung cancer. Every time I visited him in the hospital, at home, I saw his health gradually decline, I felt sorry, admired and loved him silently. Even though I knew he had a serious illness, life did not last long, he was still optimistic, enthusiastic, welcomed us warmly and saw us off thoughtfully and affectionately; still talked about poetry and literature about what he was doing and what he planned to do; still reminded me of the work of the Nghe An Association in Hanoi and the striving goals of the Nghe An Tam Tai Fund, of which he was an active member of the Advisory Board, so that we could pay more attention to and care for young talents from his hometown. He had a deep and affectionate relationship with his hometown. At every meeting of the Association of Fellow Countrymen in many fields, he attended to give comments, read poems and sang enthusiastically, helping to make the atmosphere of the meetings more lively, joyful and full of Nghe An love.

I knew he would pass away, but I hoped he would live a little longer to celebrate Tet, enjoy spring and live another year. But I didn't expect him to pass away so quickly. I miss him so much that I don't know what to say, so I'll just write these lines as a flower, a stick of incense to send him off to his eternal resting place. He has passed away, but his works, his personality and his talent will forever remain in the hearts of the people of Nghe An, his literary friends and his brothers, comrades, fellow countrymen and colleagues./.