Vinh Street - Autumn has come

The alleys are most beautiful on autumn mornings. Especially when the pouring rain from the night before still leaves clear drops on the jasmine and butterfly pea flowers that have just bloomed. The autumn sun is not as harsh as summer, the autumn wind is not as cold as winter, and people's hearts are therefore open to leisurely admire the walls full of blooming flowers in their alleys.

Autumn on the street. Photo: Trung Ha

Ladies can take off their face masks without hesitation and inhale the scent of the milk flower that has just arrived on the street. So close, so familiar, yet never ceases to be new because it is rare that we can freely open all our senses to welcome such gentle colors.

I remember the scents of autumn suddenly coming around the small attic every morning. Street vendors passed by the house in the morning, carrying the scent of the first season of star fruit and guava, just picked from some garden on the outskirts of the city, Nghi Loc, Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen. The scent of late season longan, ripe and rich, like honey in its rough skin. The scent still lingered on the street corners, after the street vendors had passed by.

Afternoon market along Hung Hoa dike, Vinh city. Photo: Ho Chien

If you step into a market in the autumn morning, it will be hard to forget. Here is the fragrant scent of chrysanthemums, the bright yellow and white colors. The autumn flowers shine with elegance in the early morning sunlight. Chrysanthemums are now present in the markets all year round, but it is definitely autumn, only autumn, that can fully awaken the brilliance of a chrysanthemum.

The young mother took her child to school, passing by the chrysanthemums, reciting softly enough for her child to hear: “Every time autumn comes/ Chrysanthemums bloom yellow/ Filling the garden with a sweet fragrance/ Bees and butterflies fly busily.” The old poem, simple and rustic beyond description, has followed the young mother for many years, from the textbooks she read when she was a little student the same age as her child now until now.

And the child, of course, will easily imagine an autumn scene like pouring honey on the leaves, flowers, and butterflies. It is not difficult to imagine that scene when the surrounding is a gentle wind, the sunlight is as soft as spreading golden silk on the street. Her face is bright, her lips are smiling.

Row of trees in front of Nguyen Tat Thanh park. Photo: Hai Vuong

When talking about autumn in Vinh city, I still remember most the early autumn afternoons calling to a clear space of the hill behind my friend's house in Cua Nam ward. At this time, the harsh summer has passed, the flowers and leaves are more red and fresh. The small hill behind my friend's house has begun the season of sowing seeds, cultivating new plants to prepare for spring. The two of us wandered around that small hill hidden in the heart of the city, looking for ripe, red, sweet-smelling raspberries, looking for milky white yams in the dark green bushes with an inviting, nutty aroma.

Sometimes, without searching for anything, just gently walking around the hillside, listening to the soft, rustling soil underfoot, listening to the whispering of the chrysanthemum and jasmine buds gently blooming. Sometimes, together, we secretly picked a jasmine bud and hid it in our shirt. No one could hide the scent. That scent still follows us to this day whenever we think of our little friend.

A quiet moment in autumn at Cua Nam Lake. Photo: Ho Chien

From that small hill, we walked around a section of the lake. The lotus had already faded, but there were countless wildflowers blooming along the lake. Here were sunflowers, only the size of coins, but their tiny flowers were filled with life. Here were guava flowers with bright five-colors next to clumps of mimosa gently swaying in the wind. The cosmos gently swayed next to a few reeds that fluttered in the wind.

The smell of mud lingered after the scorching summer days. It was just that the small countryside space, both by accident and on purpose, was in the middle of the city, which made the playful children spend many afternoons there, the traces of those wanderings always being sitting there removing clover grass and pinning it up on both of their trouser legs.

Goong Lake at night. Photo: Trung Ha

The streets of autumn are most beautiful at night. There is a slight breeze like a cool breeze, but not yet a cool breeze blowing across the threshold, along with a soft mist. The sky seems so close to the person. The moon is not high, it hangs low as if it wants to sit down and play with the children gathered around the street corners.

A month before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the children have shown off their skills in making beer-tube lanterns, can-tube lanterns, fish-shaped lanterns, star-shaped lanterns... Young fathers and mothers have begun to show off their children's creations on Facebook. These seemingly simple lanterns are the ones that have left the biggest impression on their childhood.

The next morning, my friend posted on Facebook some cheesy lines that seemed to have been copied from somewhere, saying thank you to autumn for connecting his childhood with the sky of innocent memories left in his father, when he showed off a simple lantern. The lantern was as simple as it could be, a product of cutting and carving by the three of them last night. So cheesy, so simple, but it still made everyone who read it feel sad.

Vinh Street sidewalk. Photo: Hai Vuong

My high school literature teacher friend bragged that last night she was suddenly surprised by the feeling of excitement when she smelled the scent of milk flowers on her way home from work. She repeated the old song: “The milk flowers are still passionate at the beginning of the street every night…” and remembered the passionate times she had gone through.

Passionate since the time I turned 18, with shoulder-length hair, idly cycling along the small street, my soul pure and sweet like the scent of flowers. Passionate since the time my friend turned 20, sitting on the railing of the second floor of the boarding house, watching the stars, listening to the whispering of milk flowers. Passionate like this afternoon, idly walking on the street, accidentally encountering the scent of flowers, even though it was just a faint scent, it gathered all the nostalgia of the past seasons in it...

Afternoon street. Photo: Ho Chien

You said, at that time, suddenly hummed the song “could it be that I forgot you” as if blaming myself for having forgotten the passion of the small town’s soul because of the hustle and bustle of life. Indifferent to autumn and the sweet milk flowers. So tonight, by chance on the street, meeting again the bustle of a vibrant time, feeling happy because my heart has never faded.

“Autumn has arrived” - I remember a poetic idea in a favorite poem from my youth. Just like that, but it contains so many colors, scents, and thoughts of a season. Just like that, but my heart is filled with many emotions that are hard to name. But why bother naming emotions when in this season, all the sunshine, wind, morning, noon, afternoon, and evening of the day are gentle and pleasing to the heart, but I don’t understand why an autumn day is not long, autumn is so short compared to other seasons...