Biking Taitung and Beyond

Waves crash the shore at every bikeway spur
fisherman wondering if they'll catch more
surprises to the menu 
like paths of Taitung that lead around the city 
might catch something unexpected
on abandoned railroad lines that cross downtown streets 
as we cycle discovering what is pretty
with no destination out of reach, locally 
we move on byways and paths and dream 
of overseas rides into black forests and Amsterdam streets 
Moroccan tundras American Appalachian trails 
British Wessex Hardy excursions 
and Paris Versailles in the French Countryside 
riding discovering like climbing peaks 
for no other reason than that they're there 
so we go and watch the trees bending 
saying hello on paths on Taitung city roads
And when we return to home 
body studying languages, expanding horizons,
Dutch and Mandarin, English and French 
on a desk in a study or living room
on the internet with friends 
oh the daily life of simple people living and loving
without greed or contempt 
is the life I choose to follow my days
till the road no longer for my legs can bend
And when I don't have its secrets revealed i
enough to feel we've lived sometime to quantify
on our journey through Taroko Gorge
ride the marble canyons, crystal caves of cross-island highway 
Byways and mountains to carry us forward and upward
And so on to Hualien we go to see other angles 
off Taiwan's Eastern shore 
discovering more as we move along uncoverlngly,
always loverly

March 13, 2021

May be an image of 1 person, bicycle and road

Comments

Bridging Bajiang's Embankments

See live rendition here Watch a ride across the wood bridge here Two bike bridges across shallow estuary water the sea salt flows into the steppe of Alishan From Fengqihu where eight fingers stream into one To funky flatlands meandering down through Chiayi In wild weeds overgrown from the last rainy date a bird flies shyly with no more than a song from a dried tree with nothing much to fawn an egret stands in muck wondering where to look but the smell of an ah-ma's fragrant garden invites him to drink nectar from her spine and I too feel refreshed on this bike path bench on the brink of fording muddy waters thirsting for a drench of plum rain showers when the deluge swallowd all in a cinch and typhoon rains will pound it like a fist Whipping winds across the bridges' suspensions their anchorages in danger of being dislodged again or moving not an inch of span reconnected as I am starting to make ends meet till the time when it is no longer hers or mine but weighed discreetly o...

To a local shrub with roots so deep

See first live rendition here Can a transplanted tree afford to lose rain To a local shrub with roots so deep? Wide and far in its reach To the sandy soil of the settler’s beach Where an ancient ship wrecked at sea Spilled its seeds on fertile soil Grew a forest in a far flung land Bearing fruit carried away Depleted and thinned towards extinction A foreign tree lost its distinction Without maintenance Till a leaf in the breeze was all that remained And the sweet taste that bloomed was soon forgotten Becoming an eyesore not worth kindling As lonely it had become as could be Yet just north across the tropic of Cancer In a temperate zone with a kind of its own So much density the forest did see With its own kind thriving naturally Through storms and droughts and falling outs Wandering offspring in wind settling in Unpicked fruit fallen to the ground For anyone who’d lost their doubt This is how culture comes about As ship-wreck...

Freedom Trail, Oh Freedom Trail

Freedom Trail, oh Freedom Trail Here’s where the road starts homeward To be near the family close to heart With unconditional love and empathy I can hear them welcoming me But before I leave Taiwan this time I need a reminder of why I came To override the bitterness and blame Here, in Chiayi between Taichung and Tainan Straddling the Tropic of Cancer Is the Taiwan time forgot A small city, quiet and unobtrusive Framed by waving lawns of green rice Slow with an easy simplicity of farmers Tufts of grass growing wild near a gully Banana trees spreading wide leaves unattended Happy dogs unleashed barking outside free In a space of fresh air in fragrant breeze This is the Taiwan I will remember On Freedom Trail a forgotten dream recalled To the countryside common i sing in harmony with the birds Ah-ma from a dirt path here with greens to sell Off a bench near the route of sugarcane trains The whistle of the local at a distant...

Taiwan Providence

Search This Blog