Miles of love

(Baonghean) - Without any innate talent, but with her love for the sea and islands, in just over a year, Nguyen Thi Hong Dieu (born 1984) in Nghi Phu (Vinh City), currently a receptionist at a hotel in Hanoi, has composed over 500 poems about her homeland's sea and islands.

After many appointments, I finally met Dieu, a receptionist at a hotel in Hanoi. Hong Dieu's father was an air defense officer. Since childhood, her siblings were often taken by their father to visit the unit where he was stationed in Son Tay (Hanoi). Those trips helped Dieu understand the hardships of soldiers. But at that time, Dieu had never written poetry. While studying at Nghe An Technical Economic College, Dieu often read newspapers and saw a friend making section, so she wrote letters to get acquainted with soldiers, especially island soldiers. The reply letters were full of the island soldiers' affection and through the newspapers, Dieu somewhat learned about the hardships and disadvantages of island soldiers and fell in love with Truong Sa and the navy soldiers from then on. Later, Dieu expressed her feelings in the following verses: "I burst into tears when I read the letter you sent/From that faraway island where the waves are rough/Tell about the green shoots and animals where you came from/How hard it must be to fight against the sea..." (I love Truong Sa so much!)

Nguyen Thi Hong Dieu.

“Dieu’s first poem was born from the story of a soldier on Truong Sa island who wrote a reply letter to her. In the letter, he wrote: “I only wish to receive an empty bottle with a letter from a girl inside.” Although they did not understand each other, Dieu felt sympathy. Emotions surged and Dieu wrote a poem and sent it, but she never received a reply from that person. Later, I found out that before she could receive that letter, the soldier on that island had sacrificed himself,” Dieu shared.

When reading Dieu's poems about island soldiers and Truong Sa, one gets the feeling that Dieu has been to the island many times. But Dieu said that Truong Sa is still just a dream for her. "The waves roll and roll/The ship takes us to visit the island/Our eyes are filled with tears, happiness comes flooding back/Oh Truong Sa, we are coming/Bringing our love for our motherland to Truong Sa". (Truong Sa in my dream). The poems Dieu wrote about island soldiers and Truong Sa later became known to many people thanks to her posts on Facebook.

In early July 2013, Dieu had to stay home to take care of her young child. When her child was asleep, she often went online to read articles about naval soldiers, and accidentally read a poem someone posted on Facebook. She also practiced writing poetry. The poem “Vieng Tomh Anh” was born on July 27, talking about the memories of Gac Ma, the infinite gratitude to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives on the island years ago: “I have not been able to go to Truong Sa/To burn incense on the tombstones/Today, here on the shore of the city/I drop a wreath to pay respect to the souls...” .

That poem was well received by many readers of the fanpage “We are navy soldiers” on the social network Facebook and the admins asked Dieu to participate in managing this page. Although she did not have any relatives working on a remote island, through newspapers and social networks, she felt the feelings of the wives, mothers, and lovers of soldiers on the island and transformed into them so that poems filled with emotions were born and received by many people: “I dare not ask how long you will be away/This spring will pass and how many more springs will pass/When I know my heart is divided in half/For this Fatherland and for the loving sea/And you are a corner of my homeland/Where I say “my shoulder to lean on”/So that the will in my heart can light a fire/To protect the peace for the two halves of love” (Love follows the waves).

Hong Dieu revealed: “Sometimes, just by looking at a photo, I can compose a poem. And I write poems about Truong Sa and island soldiers mainly based on images on Facebook.” In particular, many famous musicians have used her poems on Facebook to set them to music. Up to now, she estimates that she has composed over 500 poems about islands, of which 60 have been set to music. She still remembers clearly when the poem “Letter to My Child” was born after watching a news program on VTV1 about islands. “At that time, the eyes of a child at home kept staring at the screen where the image of her father, an island soldier in Truong Sa, was so emotional that I composed this poem. After the poem was posted on Facebook, musician An Thuyen called to say that he had set it to music, at that moment, my emotions exploded,” Hong Dieu recounted.

Thanks to the poems posted on Facebook, Hong Dieu has more friends who are island soldiers, naval officers, and soldiers. Navy uniforms, sea snails, square almonds, and maple trees... are simple but sacred gifts sent from faraway islands, helping her see the meaning of life and giving her more motivation to write. Some websites such as: Nghe An people in Ukraine, Huong que nha newspaper in Can Tho city, Overseas Vietnamese magazine in Ho Chi Minh city published her poems, through which her poems about the sea and islands are increasingly known to many overseas Vietnamese. "I write poems not hoping to be published in newspapers, to become famous, but only hoping that people on this S-shaped strip of land will understand more about the lives and silent sacrifices of island soldiers and their relatives, thereby loving the country and the sovereignty of the sea and islands more," Hong Dieu affirmed.

Currently, Nguyen Thi Hong Dieu is collaborating with the Writers Association Publishing House to publish the poetry collection “Those Miles of Love Waves” with more than 100 selected poems written by her about the sea and islands. Nguyen Thi Hong Dieu hopes: “I hope that before the founding day of the Vietnam Navy (May 7), my poetry collection will reach the island soldiers. If the book sells well, I will use part of the money to support families whose relatives are working in Truong Sa and are still facing many difficulties.”

Duy Ngoi