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You Can Stay on This Ferry Forever

by Elbert S.P. Lee | Fusion #6: Water

You can stay on this ferry forever,
surfing waves, shuttling between Lantau,
Cheung Chau, Peng Chau,
and other tiny islands near and far.

I can stay on this ferry forever—each night—
star gazing, slacking, forever orbiting
around a shining metropolitan—oh so near
but so far—never reaching its busy piers.

You can stay on this ferry forever,
scaling long stretches of sea without man,
without land,
watching the city
now glowing, now fading, now sinking—
in sync with the daily headlines.

We can stay on this ferry forever—
on this steel and plastic honey called Ming River,
for only eleven Hong Kong dollars,
never getting tired
of riding this slow ferry—precious vehicle for hire
as we venture
into life’s undreamed-of places.

Inter-island ferry route, Islands

a photo of Elbert S.P. Lee

About the Author

Elbert S.P. Lee grew up in Hong Kong in the 1960s. His work can be found in Asian Cha and Macao Poetry, both online English poetry magazines. Other poems have appeared in Hong Kong Poems: An English-German Anthology (Stauffenburg), and Fifty/Fifty: A New Anthology of Hong Kong writing (Haven Books). He was a guest speaker at the Poetry Forum, Hong Kong Book Fair, in 2012. Elbert teaches psychology at Upper Iowa University, Hong Kong Campus.