Watching the Tidal Bore "Victoria Harbor in the Rain"

何威廉

Watching the Tidal Bore

Victoria Harbor in the Rain

By William He

Continuous downpour of torrential rain,
Untethered tides of the stonecutters,
There are currents cascade down next to the curb.
The islands have spread a pall of gloom,
Overcasting weather turning ferocious,
Unleashing itself from the chains of thick clouds.
Sprinkles are dazzling with colorful lights.
The sky appears omnipotent with earth,
In the meek surrender once in a while.
Successive ages roll the interval,
A sound which shakes the bellowing waves and rocks.

In the misty lone land by the grey Victoria Bay.
The slow motion connects us with heaven,
To Tennyson's statue carved in stone.
In the reflections weary and frail,
Pebbles sink individuals woes deep,
Water which rain sheds will get us thoroughly wet.
The wattle-made thistles to some rivulet blue.
Night approaches and leaves again at night,
Mountains of torment settle in the chest.
Drowned enigma of yore dream does not illumine,
Touching sublime in timeless time.


望海潮

雨中维多利亚港

作者：何威廉

湍波溟渤，
昂洲横亘，
香炉攒落天流。
离岛雾岑，
层空下载，
浅礁光影跳投。
触处珥丝游。
雨点如旋沫，
欲语还休。
海峤沧凉，
忽见千尺涌潮头。

湾环相对通幽。
慢镜头逆转，
蚀洞灵湫。
烟屿杳蒙，
分流混沌，
漏天谁补氐惆。
湿地色尘留。
万状安可度，
凝霭虹楼。
水国淹缠岁月，
见一缕青浮。


Notes:
"Victoria Harbor": A natural landform harbor in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbor's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in Hong Kong's establishment as a British colony in 1841 and its subsequent development as a trading centre.
"Stonecutters": Stonecutters Island or Ngong Shuen Chau, a former island in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. Following land reclamation, it is now attached to the Kowloon Peninsula. The island was ceded by the Qing dynasty to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland along with Kowloon in 1860 through the Convention of Peking. It was initially used for quarrying by the British, hence the English name for the island.
"Tennyson": Alfred Tennyson was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume.
"Thistles": All thistles belong to the daisy family (asteraceae), the largest family of flowering plants in the UK after grasses. The flower heads are made up of a number of individual flowers or florets giving rise to this family being called “composites”.
"Night Leaves"：An album by pianist Jaki Byard and cellist David Eyges. The AllMusic reviewer stated that "There's a beautiful sense of harmonic understanding and freedom, a sense of timing beyond structured rhythms, and an empathy that these two retain simply by listening closely to one another."

何威廉

Night approaches and leaves again at night,
Mountains of torment settle in the chest.
Drowned enigma of yore dream does not illumine,
Touching sublime in timeless time.