Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Poetry 2019 | Page 125

Another Thalassic Odyssey
Maryknoll Convent School (Secondary Section), Lui, Anice - 15
The moonbeam has clasped with the wayward tides
The sea foam froths ‘loft undulating waves
Where Chang’e neath th’osmanthus shade reclines
Or Dioscuri stirs the stilled Ondines
A spectral kiss good Mazu sends their way
As o’er the brine the Feilian lithely sways
Delivers he the hoisted masts astride
And steers her through the soundless eventide
Another surging swell enfolds the bow
Another forlorn sailor quits his berth
He hobbles on deck in a cockeyed trance
And chases wisps of satin in their dearth
In crocked health raises he a glass on high
A maudlin toast to Changxi’s stellar fays
As blear he dreams past fleeting shadows nigh
And gallant yarns of erstwhile odysseys
He sees a stalwart Admiral midst the haze
In archaic vesture perched atop the stern
To whose decree a hundred navies heed
Their holds with trophies brimmed beyond discern
The pioneer cavalcade clears the blue
A herald convoy for their children’s sail
’Twas Zheng He’s fleet that moved his forbears ere
Its lingered sprite the pilot down his trail
What harvest does he dream awaits their craft?
What garlands shall he bear upon the quay?
Another stranger to his kindred folk?
Another wonted idle eulogy?
He sees his thriving wraith above the heights
Enrobed in Muga silk and bijou gold
A legion paramours engrossed his nights
Each skirt foregone with bygone tales untold
Yet he has not entombèd whence he came
Their homely bosoms veiled neath gelid palls
The shanties sing of flaxen fields afar
In wistful haunt a whilom mind recalls
Envisaged he a window from the Fates
Where Shennong’s fertile loam to Ba bequeathed
To venture peril twixt the ireful straits
And opulence restore across the heath