I have visited my hometown several times,
though not in person (what a shame!).
I am unable to smell or taste it,
only watching and listening
from afar.
I shared the eyes and ears with others
whom I know not.
My virtual hometown
has a special place
in my mind and heart.
My beloved hometown,
where I was born and grew up,
learned to love and to hate,
and finally became indignant
at what I saw and experienced.
My beloved hometown
I once left behind
together with all past memories
both sweet and bitter,
both enriching and impoverishing,
always has a special place
in my mind and heart.
I saw unrolling before my eyes:
streets after streets,
almost no trees,
bicycles, buses and cars,
and streams of people,
worried parents with innocent children,
carefree youths on motorbikes,
a few poor vendors pushing their carts--
some old, some middle aged,
and all types of foreigners with backpacks on,
wearing shorts, flip flops or sandals.
I noticed occasional odd hairstyles and attires,
risky behaviors, reckless pedestrians,
impatient motorcycles and honking cars,
magnificent, luxurious hotels, crowded sidewalk restaurants,
and flashy boutiques in empty malls,
decorated with white Roman Venus replicas
or red-yellow Chinese lanterns.
In the downpours I saw
streams of people,
face covered to avoid the polluted air,
wearing black helmets and colorful rain ponchos,
waddling with their legs in grey waters
on unruly motorbikes.
I saw water splashing everywhere
as the jammed traffic of humans and vehicles tried to move on
inch by inch along the narrow winding river streets.
They have learned to live with water
years after years,
so I heard.
They are silent and resilient,
for nobody can do a thing!
So they have learned to live with water
up to their chest,
only trying to block water from the streets
with whatever they have
against the currents--
their household objects
all piled up, barely above the undulating water level.
Stagnant waters.
Frustrating.
Hopeless.
I turned off the screen.
The unbearable scenes
of my fast-expanding hometown
are still haunting my mind and heart.
Every day and night,
and even right now,
I am still seeing
my beloved hometown drowning itself
in the spinning currents of stagnant grey water.
