After living in Texas for many years, I drove out of it in the summer of 2021, toward a new home on a faraway land.
Out of Texas
Goodbye, Texas.
Goodbye, your endless plain and rolling hills.
Goodbye, your hurricanes
that hurried through your coastal town
which I temporarily called my permanent home.
Goodbye, days evaporated in your red hot summers,
days frozen in unexpected ice storms
that turned a winter wonderland deadly,
days smoked like a barbecue in between,
mild Fall and pollens infested Spring.
All lost as I visited this part of the blue planet
as an alien who has been trying to
speak and write in a foreign language
as good as he can be.
I have a long way to go,
longer than longhorns' long history
on this cowboys' land.
My words are short and broken into line by line.
You would still understand me
like the moon understands a lone star
between land and sky.
I have nothing against you,
but my roots set off to seek another land.
Goodbye, Texas.
I didn't bring anything here.
I am taking away nothing.
In the morning twilight,
grass leaves hold back shiny tears.
Over the years I have learned how to do the same.
I am leaving.
Has NASA JSC detected my departure?
Static hissing.
I roger that and blast off.
【七律】出得州記 （三首）
2021年夏，駕車離開生活工作了多年的得克薩斯，向著遠方的新家，一路向西向北。
其一
再見常常是永訣，當時如曉膽肝裂。
黎明暉草淚為珠，傍晚塵沙馬作鐵。
四野風輪去又回，八荒霧靄涼還熱。
蒼穹之下有孤星，穀穀丁丁飄似雪。
其二
穀穀丁丁似雪飄，如煙往事與風銷。
銀車飛走殘陽落，牛仔奔馳暮靄燒。
州內行時雙日短，天涯終處一廬遙。
輕言再見無人應，靜電滋滋更寂寥。
其三
靜電滋滋更寂寥，鄉歌縈耳到今朝。
白雲朵朵空間站，飛艇艘艘天下飄。
江北風來埃及野，摩西人去氣衝霄。
良辰好景難辜負，此去經年路遠迢。
自注：
（1） 孤星，得克薩斯稱為孤星之州，The Lone Star State.
（2） 穀穀丁，蒲公英的別稱。
（3） 摩西，mall的西邊。
(© Feb. 29, 2024, godog)
