I cannot stay, I cannot go, <br />And where I am but you would know, <br />I walk where feet have walked before <br />But your feet linger at the shore. <br /> <br />The sea, immense, this great divide <br />With each on each, the other side, <br />Where once we walked as moon on moon, <br />Now one must light our afternoon. <br /> <br />That narrow beach, I see it now, <br />That lonely beach at Dong Tou Dao <br />Where you laughed once, like tinkle bells <br />While I went looking for strange shells. <br /> <br />And when you walked, so full of grace <br />Along the sand, that lonely place <br />I saw my moon reflect your eyes <br />With ancient wisdom, speak Chinese. <br /> <br />A day I will remember when <br />All youth has rendered folk old men, <br />But you will young be, fair of face <br />At Dong Tou Beach, I see you pace. <br /> <br />And all I have that keeps me sane <br />Are moving images – each frame <br />Recalls that laughing girl, that day <br />Repeating, like some roundelay. <br /> <br />My past will not now let me go <br />As cold and chills me overflow, <br />I would I had not left you now… <br />I left my heart at Dong Tou Dao. <br /> <br />24 December 2007<br /><br />David Lewis Paget<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dong-tou-dao/
