Portrait — Part II
It’s falling;
a shrill of absence,
a dreamy strangling,
the days uniform and rationed,
where jingles hold the spaces of love
and immoderations,
and zealotry redeems a country
of her past.
Gone.
Gone, the meekness of a people,
the vampires and their monuments,
the thieving imperialists.
Gone, the vacuous idols,
the profligate holy days,
the flippant clang of American music.
Gone.
Gone, the vulgar delights of the old market,
the primal dreams of the boulevards,
the crooked hopes of days to come.
Gone, the fantasies of fated bliss,
the treacherous tie of mother and child,
the puerile habits of tribe and clan.
Gone.
Gone, the jester, the poet and the rebel.
Gone, the hedonist, the sluggard and the pervert.
Gone, ambition, conceit and daydreams.
Gone, Sinn Sisamouth, Teresa Teng and Elvis Presley.
Gone, afternoon coffees, floral prints and sweet cakes.
Gone, holiday visits, strolling lovers and shimmering nights.
Gone, abstraction, nostalgia and sunsets.
Gone, infatuations, futurism and ice cream.
Gone.
next: Portrait – Part III
previous: Portrait – Part I
more by JUN HUA EA
photograph by JUN HUA EA
