The river appears, soft like a green silk ribbon winding around villages. Vam Co Tay, Vam Co Dong, Co Chien, Tien River, Hau River, Can Tho, Cai Rang… and modern new bridges such as My Thuan, Rach Mieu, Can Tho spanning the Tien River and Hau River, or the islands in the Southwest Sea - the local people call them indigenous heritages that have entered the history of poetry.
From the sky, emotions surged within me as we flew over Long An (now Tay Ninh), my homeland, or across the airspace of the Mekong Delta, a fertile land that is also a place preserving for thousands of years the soul of the Vietnamese countryside. The fields, the rivers, flower gardens, fruit-growing areas appear like a spring painting.
Working on the helicopter, I felt as though an entire land was breathing with the fragrance of flowers. After the flight, Lieutenant Colonel, pilot Truong Thanh Binh, E-Commander 917, my air force brother, told me: “Sitting in the cockpit, looking down at the vast delta, I see my homeland like a wonderful carpet changing colors with the seasons. The golden rice fields interwoven with lush green young seedlings make me feel as though I am flying over a colorful painting. Each turn of the rotor blades carries me across a region of land, and my heart rises with pride at the richness of the southern land.”
