Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Poetry 2019 | Page 129

“You dare not do this.”
The General walks below.
His impressive form
Instills new courage
In me. And I believe him -
We will fight this storm.
I bail water out
Others let sails hang downwards.
The helmsman’s wheel turns.
Orders are flying
Around us as he restores
Peace to the people.
And onwards we go,
To Java and Sumatra,
Malacca, and oceans.
Here, the seas are blue.
Azure, sapphire, zaffre, and
Navy-hued at night.
We sail a long time.
I strain, but sight only sea
Until one day, I see.
“India!” Says he.
Off to Colchin, Calicut,
Where they trade spices.
At long last, return.
With stories of success, and
Tales to tell
I can never forgo that which I have learned and seen.
All the adventures and experiences and memories,
Forever embossed in
The sea brought me there,
The sea, the waters, the oceans.
Life was as I never knew it.
I cannot resist the will to be free,
Out on the tossing waves, just the zephyrs and me,
As the hull breaks waves and I in the crow’s nest see -
That my heart truly belongs to the sea.