In the autumn afternoon, I made an appointment with some friends to visit Zhangze Reservoir. On the way, the rows of willows growing neatly beside the dam caught my attention. After a pause, my friend seemed to read my mind and told me that willows are usually planted on river banks to consolidate the soil.
Consolidate the soil? It turns out that willow still has such a function. Tamp the soil-"home". Back home, in a foreign land, I fell into nostalgia for my hometown.
On the vast loess plateau in the northwest of China, willow can be seen everywhere, which is a kind of tree with strong vitality.
Where you can see smoke, you can almost see willows. Their roots are deeply rooted in the soil, guarding and accompanying the people there.
I like willow since I was a child, and spent most of my childhood with her. During the busy farming season, parents leave their younger brothers and sisters at home and can't leave home. A willow tree growing against the wall outside the yard has become a good place for my brothers and sisters. My brother squatted down, I climbed on his shoulder first, and then I pulled him and my sister up with my hands. Such scenes often appear. Later, our family needed a rafter to repair the house, so we cut it down. For a long time after that, it was difficult for us to adapt to life without it.
In my childhood memory, willows often appear, and when I go to school in spring, I always have a whistle made of willow branches in my mouth; In summer, after dinner, there is always a big willow tree on the head; When I go out on weekends in autumn, the basket behind me is always filled with willow leaves as fuel for the kang in winter; In winter, there is always a job to help after snow, that is, picking up the dead branches of willow trees in the forest and cooking them as firewood. This kind of life has almost run through my whole childhood and adolescence, and willow has always played an important role.
I love willow, not only because it can be seen everywhere in my childhood memory, but also because of its unpretentious character. As we all know, willow is a veritable civilian tree. In the vast rural areas of northwest China, its trunk is used as a roof by many families to support the sky, its branches are woven into a laundry list by many families, and its leaves are warmed by many families ... Willow has been quietly dedicated to people on the Loess Plateau since childhood.
So when I see willows in a foreign land, I always have some complicated ideas. Although the willows in the city are mostly weeping willows and Bai Liu, which are used for viewing, judging from their shapes, they still evoke many memories about their hometown. I don't often use the word "hometown". I always thought it was a word I dared to use in my later years. In contrast, I prefer to use "hometown". Then I chatted with a friend. He told me, "My mother is here, but my hometown is there; The death of mother is the soul of hometown. " It turned out that my mother's death made me lose my "hometown" and I have been using "hometown" ever since.
The willow in my hometown is the most beautiful willow I have ever seen. Time flies, time flies, when my mother's outline is gradually blurred, the willow tree in my hometown is the most common thing in my dream. She has always been like the sustenance of my mother's soul, always accompanying me. On the yellow land in the dream, villagers? With my head down, I raised the mist and smiled. I walked through the fog and looked around. There was no one there. A row of willows stood there, swaying their branches in the wind. It was a kind of happiness that only I could understand.
Willow in my hometown is not only a tree for the common people, but also a sustenance for people's emotions. In the funeral custom in the northwest countryside, when the deceased enters the funeral, the younger generation (nephews, etc.). ) Jeff who will be full of white paper flowers. These Jeff are used to stir the fire when burning paper in front of the grave. Most people will choose willow branches to make them. After burial, people will put them in the open space next to the grave. Several years later, several large willows grew on both sides of the grave to provide shade for the dead. What a nice willow tree! People expressed their grief and respect for the dead through you.
ChristianRandPhillips's "Cloud in My Hometown" came to my ears, and every lyric deeply touched my heart. It turns out that I have never left. Are the winds, clouds and willows in my hometown calling me back?
I have always liked willow, and I also like its strong adaptability to the environment. Willow is not only the sustenance of my soul, but also a model of my life. My life, like a willow, can take root and sprout in the new soil, grow sturdily and dedicate it to people around me, even if it is only to support a shade in the hot summer!
Willow, willow in my hometown, please put away your call for my return, because I have never left!