Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Poetry 2019 | Page 109

#mingvoyages
Heep Yunn School, Chan, Wing Tung - 14
Long before the decadent, dissolute years
under the rule of opium and Manchu domination,
Was the birth of the name, august and renowned,
The Great Ming Empire.
Emperor Yongle decided to prove the Mongols wrong,
That he was anything but a doormat,
“Let the world dismiss the idea of declaring war on us,
Then we shall regain our sovereignty as Ruler of all under Heaven!”
And so he sent a monumental treasure fleet,
Seemingly sinkable with the heavy cargoes,
To convince their neighbours to pay tribute,
And to secretly chase down the lost treasure of the last Emperor.
Though unprecedented in history,
The voyages were blocked from doors of records and books
By crossbows and cannons of Christopher Columbus’ colonization
That disrupted peace in the unreached world.
The truth well hid from prying future eyes,
A tale was passed down for children to recite,
About the secret treasure that escaped with Jianwen,
And how Zheng He, the trusted admiral and Yongle’s playmate,
Plummeted to his death with guilt,
For its sinking.
“This is the tale of Sanbao’s voyage,
Whom the Dragon sent right after his commencement,
Bring back the lost treasure, sparkling, undamaged,
To decorously rule without the fear of seething resentment.
In 1405, carrying trunks of shimmering riches,
The vessels coursed the map the Dragon had drawn.
As the burgundy sails ripple and the compass twitches,
He reaches for the great unknown at dawn.
All along they chased Jianwen down his track,
Enduring an attack from the Kotte Kingdom.
Pirate Chen Zuyi stood against them on their way back,
Executing him returned Sanbao the ocean’s masterdom.
Flooding the capital with lavish tribute,
Sanbao revealed the treasure map Chen was told to protect.
Gathering the royal navy and with an assured salute,
Ceylon was invaded, seized for revenge and respect.
In the hands of the Kotte King was a journal of clues,
He was reluctant to give away such fortune so he decided to shoot.
A gun at his head, the Kotte King could no longer refuse,
Had to hand over the journal and open some new trade routes.
The journal in hand, Sanbao reached unimagined lands,
Welcomed by Calicut, Hormuz even Mogadishu after an artillery sneak-peek.
He figured it out clue by clue, as the tribute list expands,