荷香万顷

To commemorate¹ my father's centenaries birthday, my elder brother, who lives in Yun Gui Plateau, and I went back to meet our sisters in hometown last July. Undoubtedly², this family reunion had brought tremendous excitement and happiness to our 5 separated brothers and sisters. After a solemn ceremony to our poor father who had died years ago, one of my sisters suggested travelling around our hometown to cease（停止） our grief. We all appreciated her smart idea and selected Po Yang Hu Lack as our first tour spot.

 

The car was driven as quick as a gust³ of wind. After mere⁴ one hour's journey, we had been far away from the dusty and noisy town. The breeze was softly blowing to our faces together with a faint sweet-smell. The smell was presenting from time to time at first. Then, it came to be clearer and clearer. We felt as if it was not simply coming through our nostrils⁵ but penetrating⁶ to our inner organs. I found the smell was very familiar, but I hardly remembered what it was?

 

"Look, Lotuses!" my younger sister cried out. Along her pointed⁷ direction, we found a spectacular scene and all shouted out simultaneously⁸! "Wow! My God, so many lotuses there!".

 

Downward the dyke⁹（堤） there were endless lotuses with dark green leaves and pink flowers around us. 

 

The leaves were swaying in the wind just like green waves surging from the horizon to the dyke base. The waves were dazzling with their constant changing from dark green to pale white for the leaves turning the faces and backs over and over again. At the far end, the green leaves repeatedly fell down, while the pink flowers were looked like slowly rising up, due to the flowers stems borne less wind load and had less bending, which looked like clouds of red mists slowly rolling up from the blue sea. 

 

The most remarkable¹⁰ thing was the sound of lotus wave. It was a real sound of nature. It started from the horizon and as soft as mothers' sleeping song to their babies in cradles, gradually it became as strong as a symphony and shocked our souls intensively.

 

In the mean time, a shoal（浅滩，鱼群） of egrets were soaring beneath the blue welkin. Sometimes, they stretched their long feet to lurk¹¹ into or perch¹² on the lotus leaves, sometimes, they fluttered their wings and launched to the sky with cheerful singing, which added a dynamic rhyme upon this idyllic¹³ scene. 

 

"Should we take off the car and go down the dyke for a close look?" my elder sister suggested. "Good idea!" we all responded loudly and came to the bank.

 

Under close look, I found the lotus leaves were as big as umbrellas. Some old ones changed the color from dark green to blight¹⁴ blue just as the color of mined hsiuyen jade¹⁵, which gave us a deep and imposing¹⁶ feeling. Lots of dewdrops were still held on their palms. Under the breeze, the little water balls, as shining as diamonds, were rolling from side to side. Some of them even ran out of the leaf brims and dropped to the water generating silvery sounds like chord.

 

Among the well grown leaves there were lots of young curling sprout¹⁷, which were as bright and fresh as Burma jade. Perhaps it was the adolescent charming that attracted so many dragonflies' harassment¹⁸ with their hesitate perching and kissing. 

 

Above all, the things interested me most were those outstanding lotus flowers. They were proudly standing¹⁹ in the waves and pointed to the sky without any modifying branch or leaf. Their moderate pink color was neither too brave nor too flaunting²⁰. Their smell was faint but very impressive. When they were in buds, they were always dressing²¹ themselves with pink points glinting on pale green bases, which looked like shying girls before marriage. However, when they were blooming, the bright petals²² holding golden pistils and water droplets²³, and were constantly emitting emotional impact to us. When wind was blowing, they resonated the rhythm of lotus waves and gently swung. They generously contributed their beauty to modify the solemn atmosphere of dark green. The whole lotus sea was vivified by their presentation.

 

I was completely intoxicated²⁴ and emotionally stuck on the wonderful scene until sunset befalling, when the sinking sun was goldenly glinting on the sky, the lotus sea and us. It created a spectacular harmony in both the spiritual and real worlds.

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