Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Poetry 2019 | Page 111

Our Fleets Sail On
Heep Yunn School, Lee, Cheuk Wing Charmaine - 15
Breaking waves and splitting the unreached waters, our fleets sail on.
Unlike the mischievous others we tend not to attack
But send gifts across the turquoise and islands we come upon.
Gold and silk and pots and glistening splendid we pack,
With a patriotic heart and an ambassadorial mind we cruise every dawn,
And in the name of Great China we tack.
When the silver moon sets and gold begins to shimmer around,
We wake and dust and mop and steer and sing
Loud and proud to let our songs float beyond the bounds.
When skies dim and night breeze swing,
We sail towards where the dipper is found,
No maps, no compass, we drift along wherever starlight bring.
Monday morning we land on shore
Welcomed by suffocating fresh air and hesitant step.
Behind bushes they peek, eyes adore.
Cargoes of fantasies and pride we schlep
Then berries and coconuts and peculiar edibles they bore
Aboard with long-necked, big birds and ferocious feline of pep.
Breaking waves and splitting the unreached waters, our fleets sail on.
Across the fog not from afar rung sirens of attack,
Flintlocks loaded and triggered, fires ready, bows drawn.
Through thick smog their sharp shots pierce and hack.
Decks shudder yet our boldness not, in the name of Great China we fire on.
Sirens halt while ours not until waves wash them gone.
In starry nights and sunlit days,
On choppy seas and tranquil ones, we sail
To the opposite pole where obscure paradise lays.
We’ve seen creatures from the dragon tale
And sights of their almighty displays
As we follow the mythical trail.
Breaking waves and splitting the unreached waters, our fleets sail back
As heroes to where as pirates we left
With tributaries, discoveries, spectacular treasures and knack.
We are explorers of southwest unlike those of theft
Rulers of the seas to win nature back
Till our eighth voyage no storm and sea shall be cleft