One day, while I was busy cooking in the kitchen, suddenly I heard my son exclaim pleasantly.
"Mom, what quick progress you’ve made in your painting!” After looking at my new water-colour painting drying in the air on the table in the living room, he asked me, “Mom, could you draw something for me?"
Later, he sent me a photo of the dawn in New Westminster. In the note he included, he said he’d finally viewed the breath-taking spectacle of the first rays of the sun appearing at dawn, an experience I’d described to him from my memory of viewing the sunrise when I was a little four-year-old girl.
Now I’d like to share my painting "Dawn in New Westminster" and that story with you:
In the early morning, the light was turned on in a Japanese-style house. It was so early that the sky outside the house was still dark, and it was quiet and tranquil inside the house. The house’s owner was busy preparing for a visit with his parents in Taipei. After getting everything ready, he walked silently into a tatami room.
“Wake up! My little girl.” With his strong and big hand, Dad pushed the sleeping girl gently.
“Hum…No. I’m sleepy,” the little girl uttered in unclear and barely audible words, murmuring continuously.
Dad bent his waist close to the sleepy girl’s ear and whispered to her softly,
“Ya-Yu, you don’t want to miss the train, do you?”
Suddenly, the girl pushed the quilt away and jumped out of bed. Soon, they were on their way.
“Ba-Ba, are we going to catch the train on time?” With her small chubby hand, the little girl pulled on her father’s big hand and started walking fast towards the train station.
“Don’t worry! We’ll arrive at the station soon.” They sped up their paces. After a while, an old big building with Japanese-Karahafu style eaves appeared in front of them.
“Wu wu … chi…...” a loud whistle was coming from far to near, and a giant black train slowly stopped alongside the platform.
They got on the train as quickly as possible so they could find a seat by the window on the right side of the carriage. Luckily, they discovered one. The little girl happily took off her shoes and stood on the seat, then knelt down comfortably, put both her hands on the window frame, and looked out of the window. All the trees, houses, fields disappeared so fast that she couldn’t see and distinguish what they really looked like.
The sky gradually became less dark. Now there were no trees, no houses, and no farms passing outside the window. Instead, a huge ocean was coming towards her.
She could hear the waves hitting the rocks on the shore.
Like a burning bright red fireball, the sun was rising from the horizon and water was glistening, and then glowing vividly, on the surface of the Pacific Ocean. A brilliant, charming smile appeared on the girl’s face. This amazing spectacle of sunrise always made her cheerful, hopeful and radiantly happy.
Recently, I listened to the song and read the poem "Morning Has Broken", and I strongly sympathized with the thoughts expressed in the poem.
In my mind, dawn always represents a growing strength as the day begins. It brings fresh vitality and hope to us.
- Hui-Yu Chen, Coquitlam
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