it’s hard to be a good person
all your life long
you might have been good
until now
then suddenly there is snap, a hit: Bing!
and you are gone, turned into a mad man
an imbecile
even as you shout
you realize that you don’t know what you are talking about
you hear yourself say evil words
you want to stop
you want to stop
you want to stop, but your dirty mouth keeps going
like if all these dirty words
they were inside
waiting to come out
demons waiting under our tongues, under our nails, under our heels
all wanting to come out right now
by
the
hundreds of millions
all your life long
you might have been good
until now
then suddenly there is snap, a hit: Bing!
and you are gone, turned into a mad man
an imbecile
even as you shout
you realize that you don’t know what you are talking about
you hear yourself say evil words
you want to stop
you want to stop
you want to stop, but your dirty mouth keeps going
like if all these dirty words
they were inside
waiting to come out
demons waiting under our tongues, under our nails, under our heels
all wanting to come out right now
by
the
hundreds of millions
::: ::: :::
[Picture: Green demon by reading_is_dangerous (Oct. 28, 2006)]Yesterday, searching the Internet for the word “changling”, I found a poem by Wang Changling who lived at the time of the Tang Dynasty.
AT A BORDER FORTRESS~
Cicadas complain of thin mulberry-trees
In the Eighth-month chill at the frontier pass.
Through the gate and back again, all along the road,
There is nothing anywhere but yellow reeds and grasses
And the bones of soldiers from You and from Bing
Who have buried their lives in the dusty sand.
...Let never a cavalier stir you to envy
With boasts of his horse and his horsemanship
Cicadas complain of thin mulberry-trees
In the Eighth-month chill at the frontier pass.
Through the gate and back again, all along the road,
There is nothing anywhere but yellow reeds and grasses
And the bones of soldiers from You and from Bing
Who have buried their lives in the dusty sand.
...Let never a cavalier stir you to envy
With boasts of his horse and his horsemanship
Posts
Very well written R., I like it.:D
ReplyDelete"Cicadas complain of thin mulberry-trees." <-My favourite sentence from the poem below. I bet you know that already. ;)
Seeing "Bing" brought cherries immediately to mind. The last great seasonal fruit I bought in early fall were bing cherries of unprecedented quality - so flavorful and juicy, they were a full meal and drink.
ReplyDeleteI saved the pits, wondering if I might get any to germinate. The pits remained on a plate on the counter, until this blog prompted me to wrap and store them until spring cultivation attempt.
Now your lead to the Google ads shows me an alternative, if market refrigerated cherries don't bear viable pits. *chuckle*