Hong Kong, I Come

This is a simple poem I penned around the time of a recent visit to Asia's global city Hong Kong. Describing the impressions of a passenger on an arriving plane, this poem captures the feelings I have every time I approach the family's "favorite city."

A shining sleepless city,
Beneath the summer sky,
I scan the harbor city,
As soaring high I fly.

The sighs of hustling people,
The sounds of screaming trains,
The sight of scraping steeples,
Below the surfing plane.

As I the city sighted,
As engines lowly hum.
I catch my breath excited,
Hong Kong, once more I come.

Never Apart

I wrote these lyrics as an entry to an online contest last year. Written to the tune of Chinese celebrity Vicki Zhao's song "With and Against the Wind," this song has little classic content. Still, it won me the competition, it's sweet, and I'm happy.

Every echo in the wind,
Every whisper from the ocean,
Every hustle in the twilight air,
In love’s lasting song,
Every thunder in the night,
Every question from the nightingale,
Every shower from the waterfall,
In love’s lasting tale…

Tells me even though the universe
may keep us from each other,
There is nothing that can ever truly
separate our hearts…far apart…

Even if the ocean spans the world,
Every wave would repeat the lasting vow,
That we held so dear, clinging near and
Loving, trusting, holding to each other’s hands.
Even if the sun sets upon our love,
Every cloud would repeat all the promises,
That we made that day, on our way to
Recreating dreams made just for me and you.

Even if the matters of this world
may keep us from each other,
There is nothing that can ever truly
separate our hearts…far apart…

Even if the storm should steal the night,
Every lightning bolt would light the flight,
Of our fantasies, over seas and
Mountains, valleys, travelling years to the end.
Even if the waters flood the land,
Every echo of the falls would verify
Every single word, that it heard when
Laughing, dancing, we stood within it again.