Under the bridge
by Thu VuI was so saddened by Ngưu’s passing and would like to share with you a personal moment I had of Ngưu many years ago while we were still student at UPLB.
I remember once, Ngưu in a dark vest, wandered alone by the bank of the Molawin Creek at the section running along the back of the Student Union (SU) building on campus. That afternoon, the rain was falling nonstop; I crossed the small bridge over the creek, on my way from the Physical Science Department to the student residential quarter across the SU building. While hurriedly walking to avoid getting soaked, suddenly I heard a rather loud humming voice, in Huế’s accent, reciting a few lines in the poem “Đây Thôn Vỹ Dạ” by Hàn Mặc Tử. Below are what I heard:
“Gió theo lối gió mây đường mây
Dòng nước buồn thiu, hoa bắp lay…”
Roughly, translated:
“Winds follow their path, clouds move along their way
The stream sadly flows, corn plant flowers are swaying…”
I was astonished when recognizing that Ngưu, who was far under the bridge, walking in the hazy rain along the bank of the creek, passionately reciting the poem, line-by-line clearly. Ngưu did not appear to pay any attention on the passers-by on the bridge. It seems that Ngưu was also completely unaware that I happened to cross the bridge at that moment.
The image of Ngưu that afternoon, lonely and lost, followed me many years later. As I became more matured, I thought perhaps the persistent rain on UPLB campus on that particular day has probably brought back the memories of the past rainy occasions that Ngưu had experienced while still in Huế. That rain could have urged him to go out, stroll along the creek, to live again the experience that has long passed. Perhaps Ngưu was looking for the traces of the seemingly endless silvery rain on the Hương River; listening to the sound of rain falling to imagine the sad melodies of Huế’s folk songs; and getting drenched in the rain to feel the numbing chills of the winter rain of Huế. Perhaps, memories of Huế’s rains had followed him silently for years and were later recounted, partly, in his reflection “Mưa Huế (Huế’s Rain)”.
I think anh Ngưu is an UPLB alumnus that we can be proud of.
Life is but a stopping place. May anh Ngưu rest in eternal peace.