These problems have been bothering me and tormenting me. I tried to jump out of this invisible trap of life and uncover the mystery of life. But I was wrong. I find that I have no ability and courage to solve anything. I am also a member of all sentient beings, and I can't get rid of the inertia of this life. Maybe life is a pair of contradictions. If you don't adapt, you're out. So while I was meditating and torturing, I had a series of writing about Willow Island. I put the yearning and pursuit that can't be realized and achieved in life, unify the ecological willow island with the inner willow island, and put it in the background of my poetry, so that it can escape with me and stick to this clean paradise together.
Tao Yuanming, a poet in the Jin Dynasty, once described fishing as the Peach Blossom Garden: "When the forest is full of water, you will get mountains, and the mountains have small mouths, which seems to have light." It is just a fictional place where the poet lives in seclusion, and it is his honest and clean utopia. There is no such place in life. But the Liudao I wrote is not fictional, but real. It is on the Songhua River surrounded by water, on the other side of the flood control memorial tower in Jiamusi, a small border town where I live.
Willow Island, also known as Morningstar Island, is named after the abundance of willow trees on the island. With an area of about 10 square kilometer, it is the Jiang Xindao of Songhua River in the north of Jiamusi City. There are many kinds of animals and plants on the island, including more than 30 kinds of woody plants and more than 80 kinds of herbs. Besides owls, pheasants and ducks, there are many rare wild animals, such as seagulls, herons, raccoons, rabbits and wild roe deer. Fortunately, the whole island has not been reclaimed on a large scale so far. Rivers, lush plants and simple natural scenery constitute the ecological environment of Liushu Island where man and nature are integrated. Seen from the air, Liushu Island looks like an emerald gem embedded in the Songhua River.
The proverb "Stick to the roe deer, fish up, pheasant flies into the rice pot" and "Sticking chopsticks can germinate" are realistic and praise for the ecological environment of Liushu Island in those days. At that time, no one went to the island at ordinary times, let alone explore the depths, except for fishermen who occasionally went to the island to fish and cut firewood on the shore to make a fire. Nowadays, although there are some cabins built sporadically on the island, there are more and more tourists every year, but when the ice and snow melt and spring blossoms, those graceful willows, reeds, cattails and wild flowers are filling the island; Every summer, migratory birds come back from the south, and they inhabit river bends, reeds, eaves and houses in groups in the morning and evening ... The natural landscape of harmony between man and nature seems to come from a paradise. Because of this charming scenery, my wife and I went to Willow Island several times last year and stayed for nearly a month at the longest.
In Liushu Island, we put down all our work, turned off our cell phones, slowed down and tried to start a new life. The red spire house we rented is less than 10 square meter, hidden between willows and crops. Every morning, the crisp birdsong rings on the roof, waking us up from sleep; Open the window, the morning breeze smells of wet grass, and the leaves splash on the face with dew, which is cool; Walking on the forest path, those unknown birds rise and fall on the grass, sometimes they fall on our shoulders and can't be driven away. They don't regard us as enemies, but as trees or stones to rely on.
In Liushu Island, we do housework, carry water, make a fire and cook, just like our life. Go fishing during the day, pick up shells, dig wild vegetables, pick wild flowers and pick wild fruits; Drink, chat, read and write poems in the evening. Sometimes I sit at the window to make tea and listen to light music while enjoying the vast water surface and starry night sky of Songhua River. Look at the street lamps on the river bank, attracting moths from all directions. Those moths swarmed on the high telephone poles like snow and a rotating bird's nest. Every morning when I walk along the embankment, I use branches to clean the white moths as thick as snow on the ground. I am moved by their persistence in seeking light.
At night, wolves occasionally bark from the oak forest, but we are not afraid. Sometimes we sit on the rocks, listening and shouting. In addition to the moonlight like water, in addition to the sound of waterfowl drifting away with the sound of the waves, the rest is the sound of the river beating against the bank. Every time I see the old woman who rents us a cabin, she cooks wine and weaves a net by the campfire in the moonlight, waiting for her wife to return. I am thinking: Do these old fishermen who are over 70 years old have children and grandchildren? Where are they from? How many years have you lived on the island? When I saw them helping each other to fish in Jiangwan again and again, drinking and joking under the oil lamp in the tent, I gave up this curiosity and doubt. Imagine this carefree lifestyle, not rushing to sleep on fire. Isn't this what we envy and pursue? But when my wife and I made up our minds to live in Willow Island for a long time, we tried many times, but we couldn't do it. Besides an 80-year-old mother-in-law who has no one to take care of at home, and a son who goes to college to support, the most important thing is that we haven't been able to let go of those worldly things, what else do we want? This kind of life needs a kind of courage, which is another noblest life practice.
In willow island, you don't have to be busy every day, you don't have to think about how to get along with others, you don't have to be fortified, and there is no harm. We are like children of nature, except for plants, insects, birds and animals, we don't have much thoughts. You can sleep if you want, and it doesn't matter if you sleep in the sun and dry your ass. It completely gets rid of the pressure, busyness, irritability and distress of city life. ...
After coming back, I have been immersed in the secluded tranquility of Willow Island for countless nights. I will meet the cordyceps and flowers and birds on the island, get along with them day and night, worry about them, and regard them as brothers linked by blood; Today, I still often go to Willow Island. Sometimes I go alone and walk on the beach where birds sing. Sometimes with my lover and friends, we sit around the fishing fire and make wine and drink. But no matter what form I arrive, as long as I stay in Liushu Island, life will be reconciled with me, the vacuum cleaner will be far away from me, the load will be released, and my mood will be stretched out with the surging river.