I am not too well at the moment,
which may account for a degree of writer’s block. I was unable to write a poem
for the Chinese New Year of the Dragon that began on Monday, but hope my
Chinese readers will enjoy this poem and accept the good wishes that come with
it.
The poem was written in San
Francisco during a visit there in 1999.
True, it relates to a journey by cable car, but another of my trip’s
many highlights was time spent in Chinatown where everyone made me feel very
welcome. Here in London’s Chinatown, I don’t get the same feeling, yet I feel
no hostility either, only a sense of distance.
I worked for some years with a
lovely Chinese lady and it sometimes saddens me that the Chinese community in
London is so self-contained. At the same time, I have to say I envy the kind of
close-knit community that I have rarely experienced in British society
generally.
Having written and published poems to mark
natural disasters and political flashpoints in China, it is a pleasure to post
a poem about the sheer enjoyment of life, despite its ups and downs. I can but
hope readers will find it in keeping with this Year of the Dragon.
FEEDING
THE DRAGON
Good
times clinging to the rail,
heading
for the skies
on a
dragon's tail;
sun
on the face, a joy to share
with
nations of the world
in a
cable car;
laughter
has a language
of
its own second
to
none;
a
sense of integration,
only
halfway
to
heaven;
finally,
at journey’s end,
whole
world rushes in
on a
camera lens
if
only to mark the same
old
boundaries
yet
again;
scales
of a dragon
misting
over
the
sun
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