Memories of Taipei

The place where you got your heart broken, translated…

Heading off to work early in the morn, the radio played Power Station’s “Nine Times Around Zhongxiao East Road”, that was a song that was popularized throughout the streets when I was a child. The full sound of the voice resonated inside my car, that line, “nine times around Zhongxiao East Road”, as I drove through the crowded streets of people and cars, I’d gotten, reminded of my younger days, of working very hard in Taipei, and I can, no longer control my own tears, I’d started, crying loud.

I’d moved up north from the southern parts of the island after high school, although I didn’t have a higher degree but I was, lucky enough, to find a job I loved, relating to the word, I was very satisfied by it, but, living alone on my own, it was, hard, and so, I’d, thought on to bring my family to Taipei to stay, and, to my surprise, my parents who lived in the Gangshan military retirement village had, agreed, and since, I’d, felt that sense of home.

And still, as the warmth of the family came to me, I’d, forgotten about the pressing nature of the reality; my younger brother was serving his three-year armed service terms, my younger sister, just entered into middle school, and we only relied on my father’s measly retirement pension, and my a little over ten thousand dollars of wages, how would this be enough for all of us to live in Taipei? And so, my parents both started working the temp jobs, I’d felt very awful over this, I’d not given them a leisure life, instead, they’d, worked too hard, but they’d, not blamed me, not even once.

After I’d stayed in Taipei for eight years, I’d bumped into the most stable source of support for my entire life, and I’d, quitted this job I loved so much, handed my parents to my younger siblings to take care of, after I married, I’d, left this, colorful city, returned, back to the south again. Many years later, both my parents passed away in the south, a sort of a returned back to their roots, but, they’d, circled around the island completely for it, that was, what I’d, regretted the most in life.

In over thirty years, I’d rarely, gone to Taipei, my children started working and are studying in Taipei, I’d not gone to visit them. Taipei was like that beautiful colorful dawn, left me in awe, but, I couldn’t, ever get close to.

and here’s that song, by Power Station, from Youtube…

The lyrics of the song were about love, very different than the regrets, and pains I’d felt in me, but, in the earlier years, the Zhongxiao E. Road was a symbol of how flourishing the city of Taipei was, as I’d heard this song, all the memories I’d carried of Taipei all came back up, it was, an unforgettable time of my life, filled with the laughter, the tears!

“Nine times around Zhongxiao E. Road/ Trekking on the memories of you and I/I’d gone from day to night/My heart, from gray to black/How I wish I could, hop in a car and leave this heartbreaking place/Nine time around Zhongxiao E. Road………Who would care, about the heartbreaks that passed us by………”

illustraion from the papers online…

I’d gotten in that car, left Taipei, but couldn’t, get the broken pieces of my heart put back together again. Although there wasn’t any scent of sorrow in the Power Station’s song, but I’d felt, that scent of, loss; I’d never been so fragile like this, but, on this early morning, I’d, melted down, inside this old tune, it’s, heartache, also, gratitude.

And so, this is the city of heartache, you felt that your parents, in order, for you to live your dreams, had, left their familiar life behind, to be with you, and that, is why there’s, that scent of regret for you, which was why the song had, touched you very much.