A Night of '89
Footsteps at midnight
the knock no one dared answer.
Dogs howled in silence.
Charred Bodies on the road,
eyes still open to the sky.
The crows never ask.
Posters on the wall
by morning, the faces fade.
Smoke curls from tire pyres .
Mother lights a lamp.
Her son's shoes still by the door.
She dares not whisper.
Gunfire in the dusk,
then a scream the wind carries
who will name the dead?
Red water flows past
the paddy field in full bloom.
No harvest this year.
Schoolbag on the step—
its owner taken at dawn.
Chalk dust on the floor.
Whispers fill the lane.
Even silence has been killed.
Eyes blink like shutters.
A list with red marks—
young names, crossed out by the state.
The clerk still records.
Cicadas still sing
though men hang from tamarind trees.
Life pretends to go.
Categories:
schoolbag, anger, cry, death, fear,
Form: Haiku
Schoolbag in blue, pink and white
Big, small, heavy, wide and light
As long as it keeps stuffs inside
Want to put it at hand beside
Love to carry this everywhere I go
For all reasons I do not want to throw
At all times it helps me much
Protecting my things from scratch
Categories:
schoolbag, education, children, happy,
Form: Rhyme