Vinh Street - Autumn has come

The alleys are most beautiful on autumn mornings. Especially when the heavy rain from the night before still leaves clear drops on the jasmine and blue 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 arrived on time. So close, so familiar, yet never ceases to be new because it is rare that we can comfortably open all our senses to welcome such gentle colors.

I remember the scents of autumn suddenly coming around the small attic every morning. The street vendors passed by the house in the morning, carrying the scent of the first guavas of the season, just picked from some garden on the outskirts of the city, Nghi Loc, Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen. The scent of the last ripe longan of the season, full of flavor, 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 morning of autumn, it will be hard to forget. This 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, it must be autumn that fully awakens the brilliance of a chrysanthemum.

The young mother took her child to school, passing by the chrysanthemums, and recited softly enough for her child to hear: “Every autumn/Chrysanthemums bloom yellow/The garden is filled 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 girl, 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 radiant, 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, nurturing 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, sweet, red raspberries, looking for milky white perilla fruits in the dark green bushes with an inviting, rich aroma.

Sometimes, without searching for anything, just gently walking around the hillside, listening to the soft, rustling soil under our feet, and listening to the whispering of the chrysanthemum and jasmine buds gently blooming. Sometimes, 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.

Quiet moment in autumn at Cua Nam lake. Photo: Ho Chien

From that small hill, go around a section of the citadel lake. The lotus has now faded, but there are countless wild flowers blooming along the lake. Here are the sunflowers, only the size of coins, but full of life in their tiny, pretty flowers. Here are the guava flowers with bright five-color colors next to the mimosa bushes gently swaying in the wind. The daisy flowers gently sway next to the few reeds fluttering in the wind.

The smell of muddy soil rose after the scorching summer days. It was just a small, seemingly accidental, seemingly intentional space in the heart of the city that made playful children spend many afternoons there, the traces of those wanderings always being sitting there removing clover grass and pinning it tightly to both 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 that has come across the threshold, along with a soft, light mist. The sky seems so close to people. The moon is not high, it is 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, those 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 leave the most lasting impressions 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 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 the cutting and carving of 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 I was 18, with shoulder-length hair, idly cycling along the small street, my soul pure and sweet like the scent of flowers. Passionate since my friend was 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 wandering on the street, accidentally encountering the scent of flowers, even though it was just a faint scent, it gathered all the nostalgia of the old seasons in it...

Afternoon street. Photo: Ho Chien

You said, at that time, suddenly hummed the song "could it be that you forgot me" as if blaming yourself for having forgotten the passion of the soul of the small town because of the hustle and bustle of life. Indifferent to autumn and the sweet milk flower. So that tonight, by chance on the street, encountering the bustle of a vibrant time again, feeling happy because the heart has never faded.

“The season has come to autumn” - I remember a poetic idea in a favorite poem from my youth. Just that, but it contains so many colors, scents, and thoughts of a season. Just 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, morning, noon, afternoon, and evening of the day are gentle and pleasing to the heart, but somehow an autumn day is not long, autumn is very short compared to other seasons...