Poems. Hong Kong — ‘Plantation Road’
The unique topology of Hong Kong’s Peak - with a twist.
Plantation Road
Snake-like, the road sheds a scabious pile
Of old brick on the summit, and coils round
Past a red-painted house in English style
By steep-terraced gardens until the ground
Drops away. Above an abyss of air
A car poised to take wing. In waning light
The road skirts a coffee-tiled Camelot
Where, safe within his tower, a corporate knight
Watches over villa and parking lot
And a child plays safely. On down, I see
A dense wood and fleetingly through the leaves
The faint rays of a lamp where none should be
Transmuting the dark precipitous eaves
Into a miraculous level lawn
And, flitting through the trees, a startled faun.
Copyright © Matthew Harrison, 2009
Jump directly to another poem here:
Hong Kong — On Taking the Star Ferry | Kai Tak in Winter | Kite
England — On Taking Off at Heathrow | Tavistock Square Garden
Venice — Venice Day | End of Empire
Art — On re-reading Marlowe | On Copying Sisley | David
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