by Caryn Arnold

Created on: September 25, 2010

The Jade Bracelet

Along the banks of

the Perfume River,

within sight of the

temples, towers and

pagodas reflected in

the still blue pearl waters,

walks a young Vietnamese

youth with his virgin

love, a girl child who

has been promised in

marriage to another.

They move silently,

in harmony with the

tropical jungle as the

tall grasses blow in

the wind suffused

with the calls of

exotic creatures of

flight – just as exotic

as the young girl

with skin the color

of amber and eyes

the color of emeralds,

her femininity crowned

with glossy hair, black

and draping to her

waist – thick and straight,

wearing an Ao Dai the

color of gossamer

white clouds. A bracelet

of jade encircles her

wrist, a gift from her lover,

a secret from all others,

their love forbidden.

Tomorrow she must

marry. On they walk to

the foot of the Ngoc Tran

Mountain and into the

temple of Heaven's

Goddess, the Jade Cup,

where the cliffs rise

steep along the banks

of the Perfume River.

Blossoms scent the

air, heady and sweet as

young love. Here, at

the foot of this mountain

the River Perfume is a

deep abyss of shining glass,

a jewel in the sun. The

maiden and her companion

hold hands and inhale the

scent of an age old culture

wafting up from the fragrant

banks. Out onto a bridge they

walk, high above the river,

where they leap to preserve

their love and to enter a

sanctuary of eternity. At

night, in the deepness of

the jungle, the hollow roots

of the Kopek Tree drums

their story through their water

of sound, while out on the

waters of the Perfume River

there is a perpetual ripple of

their young love across the

liquid sea. Sometimes, at night,

in one of the many hamlets

along the River of Perfume

there comes the sound of a

song within the quiet of the

water before it rushes to the sea.

A long time ago another young

man and his maiden love walked

the banks of the Perfume River

and found, entwined within

the many grasses and undergrowth

of these fragrant banks, an

emerald jade bracelet. A bracelet

that now encircles the wrist of

a great, great granddaughter,

wearing Levi 501 jeans and

riding a Honda through the

streets of Ho Chi Ming City.

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