Biển Bắc

The Sea-Dwelling Wing

Where the blue sea meets the land,
time leaps ashore…… silver-white,
slung over the shoulders
a frayed backpack holding a whole life-
the fathomless journey-
where the sea-dweller folds its wings,
hobbling homeward
to the far side of ambitions,
dreams…… oh, life.

And the law of the sea
does not hold on land,
so the sea-dweller
must learn…… to immigrate,
learn to integrate
into the heaving throng of humanity,
more precarious than storm-tossed seas,
more silently brutal than the echo of deep undercurrents
in the abyss…… here, the human heart.

Where land embraces the sea's broad waist,
wind reaches out, dragging grey mist…… down low,
veiling all,
distant eyes following the shoulders of inner waves;
the sea-dweller stands still in silence,
head bowed, lost,
amid myriad sounds hearing only…… faint breaths
lengthening along the memory-laden deck

Night tilts toward the sea,
a steadfast axis steadies the spinning land-day;
between twin forces pulling, pushing…… grinding,
the sea-dweller sways unmoored,
tossed on countercurrent rivers-
no...
...flood-times overflowing the banks,
only the weight of existence remains,
anchored to no harbour…… a lifetime.

    

Biển Bắc
(begin 1, two 6)

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