lies under the blue sky and its white cloud
in the Pearl River estuary, dredged sand is piled alongside
droning ships are busy, engaged

inside the Venetian Macao
a mirror world
with man-made sky and cloud high above
this patch of   never rains, nor ever becomes cloudy

hailing from Italy
singing Gondoliers glide down the Grand Canal
glittering coins scattered   at the base of a blue-tiled wall
notes of small denomination are smooth spread there too

along the canal walk the wanderers, shoppers, tourists snapping photos
there is a streetscape of high-end shops
you might be accosted by the broke gambler
begging for a hot meal’s worth of coins

the azure water, crystal like chandelier
it’s not some branch of   Pearl river
not does   it come from a lagoon of the Adriatic Sea

there is no way   into the ocean here

Xia Fang, born in 1986, is a bilingual poet and translator based in Macao, China.