Remembering poet Quang Huy

(Baonghean) - Poet Quang Huy was born in 1931 in a family with a rich revolutionary and humanistic tradition. Starting his career as a teacher, in 1958, he was transferred to Yen Thanh district, teaching Literature at secondary school. From then until returning to Hanoi to take up his new job, the poet had 20 years of attachment and contribution to the land and people of Nghe An, mainly in literature and art... On the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Goat, due to a serious illness, poet Quang Huy breathed his last in Hanoi. NACT respectfully sends to readers 2 articles by people who have many profound memories of the poet...

On the morning of the second day of the Lunar New Year, I was sipping a bowl of freshly brewed green tea when my cell phone rang.

Poet Quang Huy and his wife. Photo from the internet

So Quang Huy, my poetry friend from nearly 60 years ago, has passed away! Last year (2014), I heard that he was seriously ill and had to go to Singapore several times for treatment, so I was not able to visit him. Many years ago, when I had the chance to go to Hanoi, I still went to his house. I sat and listened to him talk, the funny stories that close friends told each other without any restraint. His humorous and somewhat frank voice was still the same as before, and his way of talking had a strange attraction to me.

I still remember in 1956, one day a close friend of mine from the same unit invited me to visit a girlfriend who had just returned from the dormitory (China). She told me that there was a guy named Quang Huy who often mentioned my poems. It was true that at that time, I had some poems printed in the Army Literature Magazine and some Central newspapers. I was very happy to hear that. The day she was about to return to China, she told me that if I had anything to send to Quang Huy, she would forward it to me. Honestly, at that time I did not know anything about Quang Huy, but I still quickly wrote 4 lines of poetry and asked the girl to send them to him. Unexpectedly, later, around the end of the 1980s, one day when I peeled off the wall calendar, I discovered that 4 lines of poetry of mine were included in the calendar by Quang Huy. Those 4 lines were as follows: “Why do I have so much Sunday/ A lot of sunshine but not enough sunshine in me/ How can I have a hand/ A glimpse of you, just a glimpse”.

I remember in 1958, at my father-in-law's house in Cho Dinh, Hoa Thanh commune, Yen Thanh (next to Highway 538), I was standing in front of the door when I saw a guy with a backpack and a conical hat walking slowly across the street. He stopped and looked around as if he wanted to ask for directions. I went out, looked at him from head to toe and asked: "Whose house are you looking for?". He replied: "I want to ask where Hoa Thanh Secondary School is?". Knowing that he was a new teacher, I immediately asked: "Excuse me, what is your name?" - "I'm Quang Huy"

- Ah! Mr. Quang Huy. Were you at the campus?

- How do you know?

- I'm Huy Huyen!

We both cheered and we shook hands. From then on, I became friends with him. At that time, he was a literature teacher who taught my younger brothers and sisters in Yen Thanh. Later, he moved to Vinh to teach at the Workers and Peasants Supplementary School and not long after that, he transferred to the Nghe An Literature and Arts Association.

During the years 1958 - 1959, when I was a soldier stationed in a commune of Nghi Loc district, next to Vinh city, I brought any poem I had to the association to ask him to comment, correct and edit it.

On Sundays, I often go to hang out with Quang Huy or discuss poetry or invite each other to go out somewhere. I remember one day, a Vietnamese-Thai lady came back to the country, we organized an intimate meal. Quang Huy cooked it himself. In this regard, Quang Huy is the best. The dishes he prepares are always delicious (including the seven-course young dog dish).

The poems I wrote at that time were often edited by him and included in the association’s magazine. He was also the one who printed a small collection of poems for me and Bien Ho together with the title “Cua Lach in the Season”. “Cua Lach” was a poem by my friend Bien Ho (who has also passed away), “In the Season” was my poem, the first time in my life it was published to readers… My poem “Song of the Lime-baking Hero”, which he printed in the magazine, apparently won the association’s third prize, and it is said that people recited it in the traveling performances of the Nghe An Art Troupe.

From August 1969, I was sent by my unit to take exams and study at Hanoi National University of Education, so I had to leave Quang Huy. From the end of 1960, I returned to teach in Do Luong. One day, Ms. Mai Suong - later Quang Huy's wife, came to Do Luong and stopped by to visit me. In the story, Mai Suong smiled and wanted to change a few words in the last verse of "The Song of the Lime Burning Hero". The original text: "A lime kiln stands tall in the middle of the field/ An island of fire smolders for several nights in a row". Mai Suong wanted to change it to: "A lime kiln stands tall in the middle of the field/ An island of fire smolders for several years in a row". Once I told the story, Quang Huy smiled and said that the verse had applied to Mai Suong's situation, many years in a row she graduated from high school but still could not take the university entrance exam because of her family circumstances". So that's how it was!

Quang Huy was the one who helped me with my poetry even during the years when I was busy teaching and neglected my writing. Later, he included the poem “Remembering Huong Son” in the “Luc Bat Viet Nam” Poetry Collection when he was still the Director of the Culture Publishing House. The poem “Rieng Minh Ta Say” was very much liked by him and, at his request, was included by the Editorial Board in the 20th Century Poetry Collection of the Vietnam Writers Association.

I admire you, the author of poems such as: “The newly crossed wedding bridge”, “Thi No”, “Void”… Now Quang Huy has truly passed away. I pray that you may rest in peace in eternity. Thinking of you, I remember the verses in the poem “Void”:

Only forever with time

Love from the wild and foolish days

Try to sit down and write the poem

Is the poem as vain as me?

Those poems are left for posterity and like me, many people will surely remember them forever.

He, who lived, worked and had many relationships with Yen Thanh land, with Nghe An. To me, Quang Huy is a poet, a true poet friend, always open, generous, always laughing and talking happily with friends. And many of us still say: Sitting with Quang Huy, listening to him talk about "stories", sometimes we forget the time.

HUY HUYEN