Adventures in Alishan pt. l

This poem how do I Begin...

In these times we're Living in

With coronavirus in All It's Glory

Reminds me of another Story

It was some years ago Now

I was Found

Working away at Sesame Street

As there were Children there to Teach

And what it was I was supposed to teach I don't Know

They said English, but That was just for Show

There was phonics, reading, science and math

How to Sit Still and not answer back

You know All That usual crap

That three year olds need to Know

So they can Become adults Who do as they're told

Anyhow

Anyone Heard of Hand, Foot and Mouth?

I don't mean the thing We use to Shout

Or those dangly things We Call limbs

No, This was something steeped in SIN!

Och it was a Fearsome thing

It caused an Uproar, a noisy din!

What is it You Ask?

Well I dunno but We All Wore face Masks

And set about Creating New tasks

Like being extra stressed in class

And we had to wash Our hands A LOT

Some were Scared Thinking otherwise they'd Rot

And One Child, maybe he was naughty

Maybe He washed his hands in the potty

He didn't Avoid it like we asked

Instead he Caught it in his grasp!

Well that's One down

Said the Head with a Deep frown

And then The Teachers got berated

For not controlling That Which Was Fated

So Now We were on High alert

Nothing was Allowed In case we got hurt

Can't have You Talking too loud

Or outside Running about

And if You Cross The classroom Line and put that foot out

The Taiwanese teacher will Explode In a shout

And so We went about Silent

Trying to avoid This Invisible tyrant

But maybe That tyrant was just too Strong

Because before long...

Without a Sound 

Another Child went down

That's two In This class

We have to Act fast

I'm sorry but This class Must Stop

We'll have to Give You a week off

And so I looked solemn and said "Oh drat!"

But Inside I was Shouting "YASSSSSSSS!"

And Some might Say You're a Disgrace

Celebrating Children getting ill in such a Way

And I would Say

Well yes, They did have to be put to bed

And from the Shouting and Criticism they did have to Rest

But In The End they bounced Right Back

So We could go on Teaching them crap

Anyway, I Flew Home on my bike

Thinking of All the places I like

Then - "I Know!"

Off to The Mountains I go

The next Morning Filled with Elation

I took my Self off to The Train Station

My Destination? 

Alishan

But first to Chiayi to hire a van

Which I will Sit In Unmoving for two hours

While We somehow Find The man Power

To get Up outta

This delightful car park

And then Finally it starts

How can I describe This Beautiful Drive

It's just so Great that I Survived

Without tumbling off The winding Cliffs

And Only two of Us Feeling Sick

And though I have a man Asleep drooling on my shoulder

At least We're not Being Crushed by boulders

And after two hours, maybe three

After Passing forests of palm trees

I Began to See

My favorite kind

The Glorious Mountainous Alpine Pine!

And when We Arrived In The small town Centre

I set off to Continue My Agenda

I Arrived at the Catholic Youth Hostel

Yeah It Sounds Weird I Know, but it wasn't a borstal

It was Run by Ordinary Taiwanese people

Only Throughout the week though

And so

The evening I Arrived was Friday

They said "You're out by first Light mate."

And for Me That was Perfectly Okay

As hundreds flock to Alishan to Stay

To Watch The famous Sunrise

With their iphones In front of Their Eyes

And on the Designated platform do they crowd

To take photos of which they can be proud

And they have a Right Good chat, nice and loud

I however took a Different Route

3AM All was Dark

I had Already Explored a bit of the park

So I Knew more or less where to Start

Walk along the pavement to The Forest's Edge

This Is It, last lampLight left

Here I Am looking ahead

Into a Tunnel of Dark, dark pines

More Silent than a Buddhist Shrine

"Och awey ye Go In, You'll Be fine,"

I said, Being Brave like Scotland at the time

And so away I Go

Following my torch's Glow

Up I climbed what Appeared to be a hill

Clambering up and Up until...

I Came to a set of Train tracks

Lovely, let's Follow That

And so I did, all the while

Trying to stifle

The Voice In my Head that said

"Didn't You See that film with the guy That got killed...?"

"Nope, no I didn't and I never will."

So along I Go but then I go back

Cause I Realise I had missed the track

And It's Okay cause I'm Being bold

Even though it's kinda cold

Around my Face, my hands I cup

And See The Track, stairs Going Up

And as I made my Way up The Mountainous Stone Stairs

Less and less did I Care

About the silly shite that Fills your Life

Like Being wrong or being right

Or Being good or being bad

Or how Many friends I had

Or that wee voice In the head

You know The Way that thing goes

Or even having Only One change of clothes

Anyways You Know What I'm saying

The Only Thing for which I was aiming

Was to Make It Through without something claiming

It's right to just eat me Up

Cause Life at that Time was rough Enough

And so I Continued Through The Gloom

Ears Open, Listening for Demonic baboons

And did I Hear baboons?

I don't Know

I did Hear something else though

The Sound of a Gong

Gong

Gong

Gong

Which Continued on

Throughout My Journey Up the stairs

And from Where did It come?

Where???

Maybe some Hidden Daoist lair?

Maybe they were having their version of Mass?

In This Foresty Mountain In the pitch black

Well maybe One day I'll Know what it was All about

But let's just get on for Now

I made It Near the top

Looked down at the village shops

Which Now Appeared as little black ink dots

Along The Path around the corner

A shape like a car - a Honda?

No, an Old Abandoned house

Creepy, so I scuttled Past in the manner of a woodlouse

And up a set of stairs

Here I Am

At the top, no pesky camera man

Not needing to be driven by a van

Simply on my feet, Here I Stand

And I got to Gazing at The Sky

And holy shit! A shooting Star Flew by!

And another, shooting along a Vast dark blue cover

Of a gajillion twinkly Lights

Arranging themselves into different lines

I wonder if Orion hangs out Here too?

Och there's too Many, I don't have a Clue

And so I planked myself on a mound

Of flat rocks lying on the Ground

Astounded by The Beauty I found

The Sun as It Rose

Brought with It a reddish, pink Glow

And the mountain peaks Joined The Show

As they Brightened Up with their own white Glow

And Together these colours seemed to Flow

And Blend together Into One

As they Welcomed The Rising Sun

And as I Whispered "my oh my..."

I Realised, in the city working 9-5

I'd Forgotten what It Felt like to be Alive

At that Point In my Life so far

I don't think I'd ever Seen a shooting Star

In the towns and cities, We don't See so much The Starlight

I guess maybe that's why We sit In at night

Watching people on the T.V fight

And up Here where I was One Human only

I'd never Felt so unlonely

Up I get, to Go Back down

This time Hearing Different Sounds

The Air was Full of birdly chirrups

All kinds of things were getting Stirred Up

The leafy trees were a Welcome Sight

Turned green Now in the sunlight

And I felt like a hobbit Returning to the Shire

After Adventuring in the murk and mire

After Wandering Through The Night

Tip- toeing on The Edge of Fright

Now I felt All nice and Light

And so I hobbited my Way down the mountain path

Enjoying a nice, Warm sunshine bath