He woke up in a strange land <br />with a window on the past <br />a river once odorous and putrid <br />flowed past now sweetened <br />with tourist development in a <br />most local Chinese fluorescent fashion <br />but sprinkled with European coffee shops <br />and Mediterranean bars. <br /> <br />Whole families on one motorcycle <br />vied for position as the lights <br />counted down to green <br />and Louis Vuitton laden housewives <br />carried pampered Pekinese. <br />A band of school children practised <br />the physical remnants of ancient knowledge <br />as the single dingy sails reflected <br />an economic miracle. <br /> <br />Life restored to a once peaceful river <br />polluted by economic necessities <br />and now transformed to a sweet smelling <br />place of clean recreation <br />as the harbour once and still <br />a hub of oceanic commerce <br />now with trendy bars and restaurants <br />an oriental fisherman's wharf <br />a place to visit on days of rest. <br /> <br />His wife now revisiting her home town <br />and his son lay sleeping <br />in the hotel bed. <br />Where does the door lead too?<br /><br />David Taylor<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/going-back-4/
