Passionate Street Season

QTO - Walking on the street at night, my steps suddenly falter. Startled in the crowd, somewhere in the distance, I smell a familiar scent. I stop for a moment, looking around for the old fragile figure. I meet the milk flower again in the same mood. As if it exists. As if it doesn't. As if it's near. As if it's far. As if it's gained. As if it's lost. But infatuated! But regretful! Looking up in the canopy of the tree, where does that season's scent come from? Under the light, the clusters of small, pure white flowers shine. That's when the sky and earth stir in autumn, the milk flower begins to bloom.

Dong Hoi Street planted the first milk flower trees nearly 30 years ago. Perhaps because they could not yet imagine the characteristic scent of this flower, on some streets, the density of the trees was quite thick. In the blooming season, there were scattered clusters of pretty flowers, extremely lovely. Our 6X generation at that time was fascinated by the scent of milk flowers. Proudly, the new Dong Hoi Street also had milk flowers no less than Hanoi, a lot of them. Vo Ky Anh, a beautiful, sharp announcer of Quang Binh Radio and Television Station at that time, was ecstatic with the flowers. When autumn came, she invited me and Tran Hong Hieu to ride our bikes along Ly Thuong Kiet Street, around Nguyen Du, then stopped at Son Ca Coffee Shop next to the Provincial Post Office, and sat leisurely until late at night. Doing nothing, just inhaling the scent of milk flowers for a long time! On the way home, Ky Anh still tried to pick a bunch of flowers to put in her basket, as if afraid that the flowers would be gone by tomorrow. A satisfied face. A beautiful smile.

Illustration: LE DUY

I don’t know if it’s because Dong Hoi’s land is good, or because Dong Hoi people love it, but despite the sun, wind, rain, floods, and storms, all kinds of plants from all over the region grow rapidly on this land. The same goes for milk flowers. After only a few years, the flowers bloom. The flowers are white in the sky and on the ground. The first season of sparse flowers, the fragrance is faint, you have to inhale deeply, hold it for a long time to feel the passion. The light scent of flowers in the misty autumn air is extremely alluring. However, the bigger the tree, the thicker the flowers and the fragrance blends together, dense as if congealing in the sky of the city. The flower scent goes from being strong to… strong. Many people have headaches and can’t stand it, milk flowers are changed to… vestibule flowers. Regardless, Vo Ky Anh is still faithful to his lovely passion: “Just leave it like that and smell it!”. Fortunately, the local government and professional agencies promptly handled this situation with a humane measure. Instead of cutting them down in a cruel, irresponsible, and wasteful manner, people thinned the trees and moved some of them to other streets throughout the city. The milk flowers grew taller and taller and were no longer dense, returning to their original loveliness, gently perfumed the streets each season.

Dong Hoi City is now divided into three wards. To me, big city or small ward, everything beautiful here is still intact. Green river. Blue sea. Rows of trees changing. Flowers still bloom in season. I love the rows of trees along the road. Love the milk flower, rough but gentle, tall but tolerant. Leaves still shining green under the hot summer noon sun. When autumn comes, they quietly spread their fragrance. Not as proud as the yellow apricot. Not as brilliant as the royal poinciana. Not as elegant as the ban flower. Not as luxurious as the orange clam. Not as poignant as the purple lagerstroemia... The sweet white milk flower is shy and poetic. The autumn space with the scent of the milk flower is absolutely romantic, directly activating human emotions. A little wistful and nostalgic. A little fluttering and longing. A little excited and waiting. I don't know what else it is, but it makes the heart tremble and sob. That communication brings to life many immortal works of literature and art.

The image of the milk flower in the work symbolizes pure and passionate love between couples: “The milk flower stops falling/you are by my side on an afternoon after school” (song “ Hanoi , the season without rains” by musician Truong Quy Hai, poem by Bui Thanh Tuan), “The memories of the past are still somewhere/the common friends/the small roads/the milk flower is still sweet at the end of the street every night/could it be that you forgot me…” (“The milk flower” by musician Hong Dang), “First love carries the scent of autumn/The scent of the milk flower melts in your shirt and hair/First love that I thought nothing could separate/But it melted in the fragile mist and wind” (“The milk flower” by Nguyen Phan Hach). “Only the passionate scent of the milk flower remains/In the small room/The late autumn night with the pale moon/Fog” (“The Silence of a Hanoi Night” by musician Phu Quang, poem by Pham Thi Ngoc Lien)...

Autumn has come to Dong Hoi. In the land of the Lao wind and the burning white sand, autumn comes very suddenly and passes very quickly. But in Dong Hoi, autumn is truly autumn. The wind is carefree. The mist is dreamy. The sunshine is very sweet. And the milk flower. Autumn is condensed in every moment. Lyrical to the extreme. Every night, I step out into the street, leisurely walking under the rows of trees. This season, the street is so passionate!

Truong Thu Hien

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa/202509/mua-pho-nong-nan-0e17785/