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 grade crossing

And look up to see ah-ma’s attracted old friends

Making this Brooklyn boy feel lonelier

Unfamiliar to them yet friendlier

Not permitting me to feel alone

Not at home yet welcomed in their own

Where Mandarin is as foreign as English

Is the crossroad that takes me back home

Somewhere down the line around a curve

Two rails are ridden in one direction

Far from Formosa to the last stop on a train

Where all routes end in Coney Island

April 23, 2021

Comments

Love on an express train with a local ticket

Love is like being on an express train With a local ticket and no reservation. One stop you sit chillin’ as soon as it starts; It takes you for a little while and a little while more. Next stop? Get up to find another seat at the door; Maybe the next stop will be the end of the line, So rock her down till the rollin’ stops, When you seem too familiar and kind. Too hungry to sit and hard-pressed to move on, It is done before you reach your destination. Perhaps you sit on the floor transfixed Or stand in the vestibule near the toilets. When you’ve opened your eyes to the world you created, It is half past late for the ride to go that way. Without faith and vision no place goes well. From car two, aisle-seat nineteen you move, To car two, seat twenty-six window move, Third stop, to car four, no seat at all; Two-thirds of your life down the line. Red signal reflection on how your trip’s been going. The train may reach your station too so...

Because dogs are the best people❤️

Some have a dog to keep them company Someone to go out and be with them Take her for walks or places to explore A place a friend would not disagree going Call her by name when she dawdles Wait for her when she is distracted If I could rent a dog to keep me company It would not be fair to say goodbye For she would be more than a child or wife Till death I would need to be in her life A child grows and a wife sometimes stops Being a part of her best friend’s life I have thought about how to walk with a cat Or a bird on my shoulder to claw me till home A turtle and slowly get used to its gait A hedgehog, fish, snail or mouse enclosed An invisible deejay radio talk show mate None of whom would be a good on a date I’ll go to the roof and drink with the moon Instead of staying alone in the dark of night Watching one by one street lights turn on Another evening with no one beginning With all the freedom a ...

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...

Taiwan Providence

Search This Blog