Essays on Neem Flowers and Neem Trees

When I was a child in the countryside, neem trees could be seen everywhere, sometimes even in pieces. This is a tree with strong vitality, drought resistance and salt tolerance. No matter how poor the soil is, it can grow rapidly and become a useful material in just a few years. Neem has beautiful wood grain, fine texture and easy processing. If one day, a neem tree suddenly disappears, its trunk may become the floor or furniture of a new house, and its branches may be processed into wooden handles of agricultural tools such as hoes and shovels. In the era of material scarcity, every household will plant three or five trees for a rainy day. There is also a tall neem tree next to my home, which was planted by my father in his early years. This slightly bitter tree accompanied me throughout my childhood.

Before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, the spring breeze swept through Yuan Ye, turning branches green and blowing away trees and flowers. In the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Youshi said, "When peaches and plums fly in front of the door, I see flowers bloom in spring." Spring in the south comes early, and a hundred flowers blossom before the Spring Festival, but Melia azedarach comes late, giving people a belated surprise at the end of the season when flowers will wither.

The flowers of Azadirachta indica are very small, and the length of long buds to be put is less than one centimeter. Each small flower has five petals, white and tender with elegant purple, surrounded by deep purple stamens. The flowers are crowded and crowded, which is very lively. When flowers are in full bloom, I like to stand under the tree and look up at the sky. Under the projection of sunlight, flowers and trees become a dense purple mist, which is dreamlike and intoxicating.

Under the flower tree, the fragrance floats, but there is no butterfly array surrounded by bees, which is silent. That bitter nectar, even bees and butterflies are too lazy to collect. "The light rain is light and windy, as fine as snow and sand." With the refreshing night, the spring rain fell quietly and the flowers faded quietly and shyly. People don't know when it died.

The fallen branches quietly turned into thousands of flowers, green, like a shy girl, deeply hidden in the dense green leaves. "If you don't see it growing, it will get stronger every day." By the time people found them by accident, they had grown into beans. It has also become a good thing for children to play with. Some are used to play with family members, and some are used to make "bracelets" and "necklaces". Stubborn children even use them as slingshot bullets. It is common for children in rural areas to have damaged and inflamed limbs. I still remember when I was less than 5 years old, I lied to my cousin that neem fruit was medicine. If you grind it and apply it to the inflamed area, it will get better soon. Cousins believed it and did it one by one, and it turned out to be really good for two days. Later, I learned that neem fruit is a traditional Chinese medicine that blindly promotes qi and relieves pain, kills insects and reduces inflammation.

When the summer in Qiu Lai is over, the branches and leaves of Melia azedarach turn from green to yellow, and then fall with the rotation of the west wind. The yellow leaves have gone, and the vigorous branches are covered with strings of golden fruits, shining in the sun. Birds occasionally perch on branches, but they don't peck at those attractive pearls. Birds disdain neem fruits that can't taste sweet until the cold wind in winter blows them off one by one. When the spring rain comes to the earth again, countless green seedlings will emerge around the old trees. Cycle after cycle, life is endless.

When I entered preschool, it was the season when neem flowers were in full bloom. I remember that flowery spring day when my cousins and I gathered around my aunt's knees and listened to her tell her parents' stories. Grandpa was sentenced to death in the land reform, leaving orphans and widows under 12 years old and 1 year old. In the hard years, they have tasted human feelings and the world is cold. The four brothers and sisters are smart and diligent, but their family composition deprived them of the right to further their studies, but they never stopped fighting their fate. Now that I am enrolled in school, I must inherit my parents' aspirations and not let them down. The bleak sound makes the flowers in the air slightly bitter.

Outside the back door of my alma mater, there used to be a small stadium about 30 meters square. After the villagers moved to the county town one after another, family planning also achieved initial results, and the number of students gradually decreased. This venue seems a bit redundant. On my first year of Arbor Day, the headmaster mobilized senior students to plant neem seedlings in a small stadium. In just two or three years, the original sparse seedlings have grown into lush Lv Yun. Later, I was lucky enough to be the principal's student and asked him why he planted neem trees instead of fruit trees. I still remember the principal's answer: "Melia azedarach is' hard training'. I hope you study hard and practice hard so that you can have a good future. "

Thanks to the gift of fate, I didn't sigh and hate the ruthlessness and hardship of life. I keep trying to catch up with it with my own hands and sweat. Although the fate is impermanent and the ability is poor, I still can't get ahead. More often, I am unknown, letting my youth fly and my face grow old. But I remember that no matter how bad the environment is, no matter how bitter my heart is, I will grow as tenacious and tireless as a neem tree. Even if the cold winter comes, Feng Gang sweeps away and the thin branches fall with the wind. As long as the sun shines, it will be full of youthful vitality and bloom with trees and flowers. Flowers bloom not for spring, but for their own glory and fragrance.

The neem tree next to the old house has already become a family cart. Material life has gradually enriched, reinforced concrete has replaced wooden beam floors, and finished furniture and farm tools are no longer fresh. Without the use of neem, the prosperous period is gone forever, and it is rare in rural areas now. However, the purple haze that has been bothering me. When the wet monsoon blows on my face, the rich fragrance of flowers floats between my nose.