How can a dragon move while sitting still? The water
ripples his spine up and down from East to West,
Da Nang. His size leaves me standing on deck
motionless, while the tourist boat drifts merrily ahead.
A string of lights encased in metal guides evening workers
home. But the traffic stops once the Dragon sings the song
of fire and water to the South China Sea, launching
the weekend ahead where friends drink and dance karaoke.
Inside at our dinner table, my father sits, crouching,
his eyes closed. The waves he hears tell a different story
from before I was born,
when, before his crew rose at dawn, alone on the bow
he stood, gazing at these soft waters, letting the moonlight
swallow him whole.
Grey Sparrow Journal 