ROOTS:
VOICES OF
HONG KONG
Hill Drawings
Two poems by Wawa
little bird little bird my beloved
I sealed the hill for us
rest under Grandpa Tree
until my return our reunion
when I grow up
to wake you up
I’m only a sea away
I’m only a sky away
sealed afternoon hilltop
children napping on a boat
from the blue of the South China Sea
to the blue of Apleichau’s sky
under Lamma’s watch
buried pets sealed
broken kites sealed
chalk graffiti sealed
wagging foxtails sealed
sparrows’ hair whitening
years of love whitening in the afternoon sun
ten thousand children gone
the hill
minus someone’s taking a nap
minus someone’s watching the sea
minus someone’s looking up at the sky
minus someone’s talking about
growing green fields
all over the world
minus someone’s return
minus someone
minus everyone
Hill Drawing I _ Nameless Hill (beside Yuk Kwai Shan)
home in C minor
30 years of 4pm
30 years of 4pm sunlight
cirrus of compassion
cornflower blue #6495ed
of clouds rising
passing
falling
homeless in A minor
Hill Drawing II _ Makapu‘u
when someone sees someone dying it’s summer
when someone sees someone’s born it’s also summer
November’s summer
muted whales come breathing
muted waves carry children offshore
mother and daughter watch quietly
to count the time
left to the end
muted white clouds
swooping down
grow thousands of prairies
daisies and dandelions
a world begun for mother
by daughter
Hawaiian sun muted
mother lost in the world
because daughter’s in a plastic bag
mother opens a hand
daughter holds it
two silhouettes dwindling downhill
mother drowns daughter in the Pacific
to bring her back home
crosses the world
builds a lighthouse at its edge
so that when she asks again
where home is
mother can light a light
wherever daughter is
seawater spitting nothing on the shore
mother lights a light everywhere