Independent Chinese PEN Center

for the martyrs of Tiananmen Square

The first generals ordered
to clear the square
refused and said,

“The people’s army
should not be used
against the people.”

Oh, the old chain-smokers
had other cards to play,
and it ended the way it seemed
that those things always would,
when men and women dreamed
too soon, too well—
crunch of truncheons, smell of b1ood,
the bucket in the corner of the cell;
Masada and Spartacus,
Boston Massacre, Harper’s Ferry,
Warsaw ghetto,
Hungary, Prague,
Kent State, Soweto.
Some would add Calvary. Continue reading →