The Romance of Qinghai Lake: An Uninvited Healing Journey

Here, romance is intrusive, carrying the generosity of all things under heaven, leaving no room for refusal. It is not as tender as a love poem, yet it is broader than the heart’s lake and more ethereal than a dream—at the moment your gaze meets Qinghai Lake, you understand what "God’s spilled palette" means: lake blue is the solidified sky, grass green is the spreading breath, the red and yellow prayer flags burn in the wind, and the salt crust shatters into thousands of stars under the sunlight. The world is so pure that there is not a trace of excess, even time slows down here. The wind is a transparent pen, sketching flowing patterns on the grassland. Chubby pikas lie in the sunlight; rather than sunbathing, they seem to be dreaming of freedom. Occasionally, they turn over and glance at me, and in their round eyes, it seems my thoughts are reflected. The chill at 3,200 meters above sea level carries a wildness—not the crispness of mint, but like a coquettish child, gently brushing your nose tip, earlobes, and the bones at the back of your neck with the wind. Even if your nose runs from the cold, you hesitate to wipe it away—this is a unique mark gifted by the journey; wiping it off would betray the intimacy of this land. The rebellious feelings after a year of work completely overflowed before this blue lake. Every frame of the scenery in my eyes feels like a farewell, making me want to become a blade of grass by the lake, yet I know the scenery cannot migrate, and freedom has never been defined. When resting inside the car, closing my eyes still reveals the lake water swaying beneath my eyelids, the cold blue crashing into my heart, suddenly realizing: some scenery need not be taken away because it has already followed every breath and been engraved into life. If I could write here, I would wish to write a book without an ending. The protagonists are the surging lake water, the swaying meadows, and the softly rustling small prayer flags in the wind—they have long inscribed an eternal footnote about romance between heaven and earth.