Great Lake

Lucky you, my fair lady
you came to this world of dustiness as a lake
Many would be condemned by devils big and small
for being held up like this by hordes of gorgeous men
of mountains, of the Sierra Nevada
Millions of years have you made
you precede us all, little men and women
stupid dinosaurs and strange birds
You still keep yourself young, glorious
They say you live in a spectacular spot of our earth
the only part that can match your extraordinary beauty
But it's you who nurture and beautify those around you

So many years have passed
you still have that high purity
and wear the same color of emerald and blue
Your laughter is so serene and transparent
It makes us cry and feel sad and content
all at the same time; we become your children
your happiness silently sinks into our blood

Needless to say, we have come a long way
From that human world of dust and noise
We have traveled a road up and down
fighting through low mountains and feisty hills
through the heat, cold and rain
facing up to grudges natural and artificial
We are afraid to tell you but you probably know
that lightning used to laugh in our face
thunder rolled over our heads
The sky can be so heavy and the earth so muddy
We are horrified; but we are smiling
only for you and your extraordinary beauty

You are a woman, that's no secret
You are proud to be held up by many men of towering mountains
up there in the 4000 - 6000 altitude
They are men of devotion, men with steam over their head
that have changed into snow and ice but still loving

You are a mirror, clean and still
reflecting the dirt in the face
of human morality and its pettiness
Hey, don't tell us you still have that roaming eye
like when you were a little girl
not yet this full, this refined and this magnificent
Only your purity is consistent

There is no more mystery
You are that gorgeous woman in my dreams
who are worshipped by many but yet crying
for the lack of true appreciation, of depth, of width
You are forever waiting
for that man of physical beauty and strength
and of mental toughness and grotesque imagination
one who can appreciate the full extent of you and your depth
You are trying to meditate up
a soul that does not view you as a lake
but a living creature, a woman of extraordinary beauty
You are beautiful because you are still alive

You have been waiting, my fair lady,
long enough to die, to be reborn
or to transform into a real lake
Still you hold on, day and night,
through the summer heat and winter snow
because you have your own belief
which is as stubborn as your undying beauty
as immense as your inner richness
You have extended everything too far
not to be discovered and appreciated
Your tears have become jade and diamonds

Am I the one you are waiting for?
I doubt 'bout it, for I have no idea
what to tell you. I even don't know how to bow
There are too many eyes
and you are too happy among those
many men of mountains

But I can feel you, in my blood
You keep me sick and happy
days and years after I met you
My life is thus changed, sadness reigns
Maybe I should put my fist down
and smash apart that awkward morality around my ankles
Sorry I can't, for I am only a little man
who is fortunate to meet you once in my life

May, 1997