Poet Van Cong: Lived and wrote faithfully for the revolution.

(Baonghean) - The Thồ Lồ, with names like Chief Ma Quân, village chiefs and elders like Ma Kham, Ma Gâm, Ma Kheo, Ma Khó, Ma Ngoe, and those who led the villages in fighting the enemy… in Văn Công’s writings, is truly magnificent! And Party Secretary Ma Pốp (Văn Công), who made many contributions to building the revolutionary movement here, is regarded by the people as a special chief…

In 1988, on my first visit to Nha Trang, I was taken by Dr. Nguyen Dinh Tho, Chairman of the Khanh Hoa Provincial Bar Association, to visit the poet Van Cong, whom he called his grandfather. Contrary to my preconceived notions of a former Deputy Secretary of the Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee and former Acting Chairman of Phu Khanh Province, Van Cong was short, unassuming, and looked more like an old farmer than a politician. Still speaking in his authentic Nghe An accent, he told me: “You see how beautiful this house is? It belongs to the government! When the province is divided, I’ll return the house and go back to Phu Yen. I just want to go to the Mekong Delta; it’s very meaningful there!”

True to his word, in mid-1989, after the province was divided, he returned his house and bid farewell to the glamorous Nha Trang to return to Phu Yen, a place still fraught with difficulties. Although he didn't return to the Mekong Delta, living in Tuy Hoa, he had more opportunities to frequently visit Tho Lo and the Mekong Delta, a place deeply connected to his life through two wars of resistance.

Poet Văn Công.

The poet Văn Công, whose real name was Cao Xuân Thiêm, was born in 1926 in Diễn An commune, Diễn Châu district (Nghệ An province), into a scholarly family, a lineage renowned for its academic achievements and many prominent intellectuals. In 1946, eagerly joining the Southern Advance Army, he arrived in Phú Yên and, as if by destiny, spent his life in western Phú Yên, known by names like Ma Pốp, Ma Xí, and Ma Xoong. He also wore loincloths, had long hair, went barefoot, spoke the language of ethnic minorities, and lived and fought alongside the people in the most difficult and arduous conditions of the resistance war.

A Western region, impoverished yet steeped in brotherly love between the Kinh and ethnic minorities, a heroic and resilient Western region that passed through Van Cong's life, became the subject of his fiery poems, brimming with human emotion, and poignant prose, shimmering with mythical colors and filled with the complexities of struggle. More than 20 books, including 15 individually published with titles such as "Beloved Land," "Legendary Land," "Land of Fire," "Memories of a Land," etc., represent his heartfelt devotion to this land of profound gratitude.

In fact, after nearly 10 years of working in the Mekong Delta, in Phu Yen, he should have returned to his hometown at the end of 1954 on the regrouping train heading north. However, after his successful return to Phu Yen to bring Comrade Le Dai, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee who was temporarily sheltering in an ethnic minority area, to Dieu Tri, Binh Dinh, to attend a meeting chaired by Comrade Vo Chi Cong (representing the Party Committee of Zone 5), the Phu Yen Provincial Party Committee decided to keep him as a liaison officer specializing in the secret communication line from Phu Yen to the Zone 5 communication hub and the provinces of Binh Dinh, Dak Lak, and Gia Lai. He said that looking at the last train carrying regrouping cadres heading north, his heart was filled with mixed emotions, especially since the train carried a letter he had written to his daughter, with whom he planned to get married on this trip to the North.

One name that repeatedly appears as the central focus in Văn Công's works is Thồ Lồ (Phú Mỡ commune, Đồng Xuân district). As he writes, it is the land of "a branch tribe of the Ba Na ethnic group," which for a long time "lived like forest dwellers, completely uncontrolled by anyone, whether feudal kings or French colonialists." Yet, this tribe of less than 1000 people became the first spark of armed struggle, a foothold of the revolution during its most difficult days, a resilient land that the enemy could not shake, and also the first liberated area of ​​Phú Yên province in 1957.

The Thồ Lồ, with names like Chief Ma Quân, village chiefs and elders like Ma Kham, Ma Gâm, Ma Kheo, Ma Khó, Ma Ngoe,… those who led the villages in fighting the enemy, are depicted with great heroism in Văn Công's writings. And the Party Secretary Ma Pốp (Văn Công), who contributed significantly to building the revolutionary movement here, is regarded by the people as a special chieftain. As for Ma Ngoe, he considers him a hero of Western Phú Yên, the one who saved him. He told me: “Without H’ Ngoe, Ma Ngoe’s daughter, who listened to her father and pretended to be my wife, the enemy would have shot me long ago.” Y Ngoe died very young, giving birth during an enemy raid. Ma Ngoe also died long ago, but to this day has not been awarded the title of hero. “You left behind the plum blossom forest and the banana tree, leaving behind your old mother by the moonlit stream. I stopped by to add more earth to your grave, so that our love would be more firmly rooted…” He wrote such touching poems and prose about them, yet even now, his heart still aches with unease.

Van Cong was one of the first poets of the Southern Liberation literature. His two poems, "My Heart" and "The Voices of the Children" (1960), won first prize in the Thong Nhat Newspaper poetry competition. His collections, "The Frontline of the Fatherland" and "The Songs of the South" (published jointly), were awarded the Nguyen Dinh Chieu Prize. His poem "The Communist" (1958) was translated and published by a major French newspaper during the anti-American war. Reading Van Cong's poetry and prose, one can visualize his entire revolutionary journey. Remarkably, he was able to write even under the most difficult and challenging conditions. He said that many nights, alone in a hammock in the deep forest, he would compose poems, murmuring them over and over until he memorized them, only then having paper and pen to write them down.

Van Cong (second from the right, first row) during his visit back to the Mekong Delta.

After the complete liberation of South Vietnam, regardless of his position (District Party Secretary, Vice Chairman, then Acting Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee), or even after retirement, whenever he had the opportunity, he would return to the Mekong Delta, to the Tho Lo base area. He said: "I return to revisit the mountains and forests, to visit the people, to reflect on them and strengthen my resolve, to live worthy of the people and the Party. And also, to recharge my writing." It's not difficult to understand why he wrote so much after retirement. Every few years he publishes a book, each one substantial and substantial.

A life of hardship, hunger, and meager resources, combined with the character of a Nghe An native, shaped Van Cong into a strong, resilient, and very simple man. When he was a provincial leader, he would often pack rice to take with him on business trips to various localities. Journalist Phan Thanh Binh of Phu Yen Newspaper, who was Van Cong's secretary when he served as Acting Chairman of Phu Khanh province, recounted: Once, he went to a locality in the province to deliver a resolution on prices, wages, and currency. After the delivery, the local leaders exclaimed, "We've been so confused and clueless all this time; thanks to you, Mr. Six, we've finally seen the light." He said nothing, but only when he got to the car and took out his rice to eat did he say to the members of the delegation, "Actually, I see many things in this resolution that are still unclear in its implementation. Yet they say they've seen the light, but I don't know where that clarity is!" Throughout the journey, he didn't talk about the resolution anymore, but only about poetry and literature.

Speaking again about the beautiful house in Nha Trang that he returned to the State, he recounted that after returning to Phu Yen, a leader offered to give him back the house, which was worth billions of dong at the time, but he thanked him and refused.

He had a deep affection for his homeland in Nghe An province, wrote many poems about it, and always treated us, those who had left their hometown, as his own children and grandchildren. In Son Nguyen commune, Son Hoa district, there was a prosperous village entirely inhabited by people from Dien Chau who had settled there. After liberation, upon returning home and seeing the land was scarce and the population dense, he, then the Secretary of the Tay Son District Party Committee (now Son Hoa and Song Hinh districts), encouraged the villagers to clear land and establish a village for livelihood. The villagers considered him an honorary citizen of the village…

As for Tho Lo, whenever he hasn't been home for a long time, the villagers always mention him. They still call him Ma Pop, Ma Xi, or Ma Xoong. Nearly 90 years old, he belongs to a generation of Vietnamese writers who are considered "rarely seen," and his health is failing. Although he can no longer frequently return to the Mekong Delta and to Tho Lo, every day, sitting before his pen, the Mekong Delta and Tho Lo reappear, brimming with memories, inspiring him to write more poems and prose that are deeply meaningful to life!

Phan Xuan Luat - (Phu Yen Radio and Television Station)