Meadow Flower A Poem in Vietnamese explicated

A Meadow Flower

A poem composed in Vietnamese by

Mai Van Phan

Translated into English by

Pompen Hantrakool

Explicated by

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

Text

There is no one who dares to gather

This time

A bleeding flower

Flower and its associate fragrance are a recurrent motif in the hidden face  flower.The poet observed fragrance disseminated by the moon in the still of the night and knew that a flower was destined to be born next morning.On one level the Moon is the flower of the sky. On another level it is the fragrance that comes before the flower as the flowers messenger. What could be the flower to be born? May be it is the metaphor of a messiah like Lord Buddha or Lord Confucius.The wind is the life force of every living being and wherever it blows from, it lifts up the sweet essence of lotus flower. That is, the source of the wind is not important.One need not learn wherefrom the life giving fountain is flowing.The point is that wherever it goes it lifts up the essence of lotus flower. We infer that according to the poet every living being is therefore a lotus flower , every living being is a potential Buddha or a Buddha unmanifest.And it was in search of a flower that the poet climbed the steep. On another level Vietnam could be likened to a flower. Lotus is its national flower.The heart of Vietnam is as tender as a flower.Her monarchs burst into ecstatic poetry and carved poems on the rocks at crucial hours of Vietnams national history.And when the poet says that rain squalls cannot destroy a flower does he mean thereby that no foreign aggression however mighty ,can destroy Vietnam the land of poetry and the land that upholds peace. And does the poet allude to the hour of foreign aggression when the Vietnamese people were engaged in a life and death battle for survival when the poet Mai Van Phan himself was driving trucks from one Vietnamese military camp to another in the phrase- this time- in –

There is no one who dares to gather

This time

A bleeding flower?

May be wounded soldiers were lying in the meadow at the hour.  Just imagine a Vietnamese soldier –blood was  spurting through his mouth and it reddened his neck, and the front of his shirt a brilliant red. He is truly a bleeding flower in the meadow.But no one could dare to rescue these bleeding flowers in the face of continuous bombing.

What is a meadow? A meadow is an area of plenitude in both wildlife and vegetation. There are commonly hidden brooks or rivers in its neighbourhood to support the abundance of the wealth of  Nature. It is loud with voices from the streams winds birds and bees. It is a  mellifluous landscape peaceful and pristine. It is the place of silent growth. To pass through it is easy. It speaks of balance and harmony. It is a convenient environment for spiritual growth. The meadow here might stand for the beautiful land of Vietnam. And to find a bleeding flower in a meadow is truly a spectacle that thrills our hearts with unspeakable grief. The poet Mai Van Phan is a deft painter with words that evokes in us compassion that beggars words.The bleeding flower in the meadow is a metaphor for love  that lies bleeding. It is compassion that lies bleeding It is the Christ symbol.

On another level the phrase bleeding flower might stand for bleeding heart flower. A bleeding heart flower might mean undying love.When the poet finds a flower of undying love lying in a meadow and there is no one to dare to lift it up the poet seems to throw a challenge before the knights at arms. We are at once transported to the days of medieval romance and we are reminded of Chaucers Romance of the Rose

On a third level the bleeding heart flower might stand for the heart chakra and a man must undergo great penance to reach the heart chakra where he can hear the primordial logos Om. But there are few who dare to undergo penance to reach the heart chakra and lift up the over mind rhythm that is the elan vital of all great poetry.