China Tour Thoughts 2

China Tour Diary Moment #2 -------------------------------- AZURE MOUNTAIN GORGE Mile after mile we take the China roads; Highways beckon now as our tour meanders; Vistas speak beauty as coach bears our load; Silence fills endow as wind blows plunder. Springtime in China is warm and windy; Dry air dehydrates and skin feels so dry; Our tour agenda is surely easy; Our fare is repaid with curious reply. The days fly so fast, our daze frames amaze; So quickly five days have brought swift passage; Glimpses will outlast this brief springtime craze; Our sojourn flings rays and soul-heart message. Azure Mountain calls to visitors here; A boat ride to see the rock formation; Hear echoes that fall as voices briefly steer; And then most clearly the cave attraction. We traverse the gorge down the mountain side; Waltz through the caverns and rocky terrain; Stumbling caves to forge a new sense of pride; Bear the rock haven where cold blasts refrain. Up and down and up, round and round the bends; Left and right and then, deep into depths steep; This gorge-ous roundup tames stamina's trend; Struggled to withstand the thin air that seeped. Trekking through footpaths carved ancient rock route; Winding as we go to explore stone realms; This excursion maps theme park walkabout; Going with the flow beyond thoughts undreamt. There's hidden beauty in mineral glow; We gaze in wonder with exploration; Stalactites comely, stalagmites' wet flow; Cold caverns thunder with loud intrusion. Two hours underground in subterranean rock; We struggled to breathe oxygen-thin air; This marathon round shows our ageing stock; Coldness brings fond brief in lifelong affair. Yet the final trek with long flight of stairs; One step for each day of the calendar; An auspicious track to challenge life's fair; Delight finds sure pay in fond agenda. We rush to get out of stone cavern womb; Borne by a new zest for life that feels free; This deep walkabout an emergent tomb; Each feels new-found fest in earthly beauty. Then a ride across the fabled gorge span; Airy cable lift as paired moments fly; Awesome this toss to ride glen to glen; What better a gift to enjoy such highs. Dearest and I see far below this gorge; Deep waters flow swift in movement that winds; Embrace the lovely tour moments that forge; A gift beyond gift in miracle finds. Love and life greet joy in peace lived profound; Here faith and hope stride with grace that firms heart; This brief touch employs nature's transient sure grounds; Time and space fling ride as each event starts. Whoever comes here will remember this Place where stone mountain gorge stands silent guard; Where history steers the transcendent bliss; So memory gains balance in soft-hard. Gorge-ous this mountain that tells a story; If only we know the path that we take; To brave life's terrain in truth and beauty; Know then that we show life that we dare make. Leon Enriquez 23 May 2014 Lijiang, China Yunnan Province