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Luminary: Poet Huu Loan is best known for his love poem Mau Tim Hoa Sim (Violet colour of Tomento Myrtle), died at the age of 95. — VNS File Photo |
HA NOI — Poet Huu Loan, who was famous for his love poem titled Mau Tim Hoa Sim (Violet Colour of Tomento Rose Myrtle), died on Thursday of old age at his home in the central province of Thanh Hoa. He was 95.
Nguyen Huu Loan was born in 1916 at Van Hoan Village, Nga Linh Commune, Nga Son District, Thanh Hoa Province. He joined the activities of the Viet Minh (the Viet Nam League for Independence) in 1936. He also used to work as a freelance writer for various literature magazines published in Ha Noi before 1945.
After the August Revolution in 1945, he was assigned to work as a cultural official in Thanh Hoa's temporary administration committee.
Loan then joined Viet Minh's armed forces to fight against the French. After 1954, he worked at the Van Nghe (Literature and Arts) newspaper.
Mau Tim Hoa Sim is one of his most famous poems together with other poems including Deo Ca (Ca Pass) and Hoa Lua (Rice Flowers). Mau Tim Hoa Sim was written in 1949 and said to commemorate the sudden death of his first wife Le Do Thi Ninh.
The poem has been used to compose songs by various musicians including Dung Chinh, Pham Duy, Anh Bang and Duy Khanh.
In 2004, the Viet-Vitek Technology Joint-Stock Company bought the rights to the poem from the poet for VND100 million (US$5,247), a Vietnamese record.
The poem tells the story of a couple during the French War. A soldier and a young girl fall in love and get married.
Then the soldier goes to the battle. He worries for the young wife if he unluckily dies in the battle. But when he returns home, excited to see his beloved wife, he is shocked to discover she has died in an accident.
The soldier then returns to battle, moved to tears when seeing hills full of wild sim (tomento rose myrtle) flowers, reminding him of when the couple used to walk together through flower fields. — VNS