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
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