Karst Topography of China
You would be foolish
To consider wanting to be elsewhere
For what could possibly be more beautiful
Than right here – now
Surrounded by karst towers
In the centre of Yangshuo Park
Sun at five-thirty late afternoon sky
Reflections flickering on the pond
Schools of swimming karst
How long have they been dancing so?
Three hundred million years
A great ocean covers the earth
Layers of shells and skeletons of lime-secreting creatures
Calcium carbonate deposits in ancient tropical seas
A thousand feet deep
Through the forces of wind and water
Handiwork by ancestors of the River Li
Crevices are hollowed out
Calcium carbonate dissolves
Caves and canopies collapse and wash downstream
Residual remains of limestone laminations ---
Karst towers
You call them Remains of the Day
As in the novel by K. Ishiguru
Dragon Rivers flow through valleys
Winding between karst tower spires
Whose shapes express
The Five Operations of Nature –
Fire and Wood
Earth and Metal
Water at their feet
Resonating in your belly
Rivers wash their toes
Manicures their nails
From the calcium of toenail clippings
Grow orchards and paddies of good Chinese rice
Farmers living here for centuries --
It’s in their blood
Maybe you can absorb something.
From Vietnam and Thailand to Guilin
Thousands upon thousands of karst towers dance
Across the ballroom floor of the countryside
A magnificent waltz, perhaps
The waltz of the karst towers
And they dance their dance
Reaching up absorbing winds from the sky
Words of joy between heaven and earth
Transmissions from the deities
Auspicious heavenly energy---
Wood, fire, earth, metal and water
A reservoir whose cup runneth over
Bicycling along back paths through small villages
Tucked between fields and karst towers
You cross the Li River
Over a mountain pass
Come to the other side
Then up a dirt path to its end
An upland meadow
Where stones have been taken out of the mountain
You sit on a rock and sketch
The same mountain over and over
Water buffalo washing in the gully
Wind turning the corner from the meadow behind
Jasmine-like scent of the pomelo
Scenes of the immortals
You have come to drink nectar
3:2002