Shengsi Islands in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province [Photo/zj.zjol.com]

Shengsi Island

(by George Bishop Haydoc) 

Close your eyes atop the mountain and

feel the soft scent of the sea combing your face

as salty sun wraps you in arms motherly,

while into your nostrils you draw briny perfume.

Listen to the waves nestling against the sandy shore

while ocean birds call to the day,

and you will soon hear the hum of fishing boats

motoring home to the cove with their catch heavy,

and the fishermen,

their skin scaled by salt, their hearts slick with fish blood, will be echoing

folk songs—rich tones ripened by over a thousand years

of ancestors whose breath flows with the tide, around fins, through gills.

Now open your eyes and look over

a village painted by the fishermen—

vibrant wall murals of sea creatures, folklore, tradition—

the lifeblood of their culture.

Now descend toward sea and walk among the homes strewn

with nets and ropes tied with ancient ritual.

See the passion: men, women, and children busy

crafting paper-cutting artwork so detailed, so delicate—

crisp, imaginative odes to the very fish they honor and need.