“It feels guilty though
To not stand in this rain
When we have an excuse to carry long umbrellas.”

My city had fallen. Oh, yours too?

They say the thugs did it, but they
were different theys,
And the thugs referred to the other them:
the source of the mayhem.
The government said, “We were trying to make great the city, …”
“By growing peace with political piss,” responded the people’s ditty.
Thus, independent media caused hysteria,
That in turn set all public facilities ablaze with Molotov magic.
Oh, yours too?

“The blame,” says our city’s chief, “is on the libertarian heretic,
And the girls and boys with their kerchief-covered faces.
Our police officers’ fists, boots, and power batons were attacked
by their breasts, eyes, and other tender body places.”
A crueler non-fairy tale version of Hamelin, our city has no next generation.
Raped, battered, then suicided, to prevent a revolution.
Oh, yours too?

My family sent me away, they could afford only one.
They urge me to always understand
that others are frustrated to have to, out of humanity,
Accept my troubles into their land.
Oh, yours too?

My city once accepted refugees,
the UN never repaid the promised sums.
My city had trouble integrating,
but that we did overcome.
Until when my city clandestinely imported immigrants
of the regime’s preferred race,
That they claimed is the same as mine,
Through some historical interface.
Oh, yours too?

Now, we have arrived here,
distant from the hapless familiar,
although also away from what we hope to save.
“How many cities like ours will there be for us to flee,
If we keep fleeing in order to be safe?”
My sweetheart had asked me that
before they guzzled benzene through her nose into her brain.
Oh, yours too?

Harmony through hegemony is
But a silence that isn’t peace
My state enshroud in police blue
As yes, yours too.

Author’s Note: This poem was written in response to III:7-9, 17-18 and IV:14-17 of the book. It was written on 7 October 2019, which coincided with a festival for remembering family. Opening quotation is a message from Benjamin Lam, who is a brilliant pessimist.