The Dead Do Not Forget
In Commemoration of the Second
Anniversary
of the Tiananmen Massacre
By WU Ningkun
Two years already
Two whole years
Seven hundred thirty days
Seven hundred thirty nights
Little by little
Have erased the memory
Like raindrops
One by one
Washed clean
The blood-stained Square
I was so easily silenced
By a little bullet
So easily
Did it stifle my little song
That made your heart ache
That made the doves wheel freely
Over our hungry tents
But I do not forget
The sun shines
On clean-looking policemen
Directing limousines
With invisible killers
Behind opaque curtains
On children with transparent smiles
Flying kites in the open
On tourists lining up
At the Mausoleum
The Kentucky Fried Chicken
I was so easily silenced
By a mighty big tank
So easily
Did it crush my little tent
That sheltered my dreams
That made me a king
Of infinite space
And kill a child's dream
But I do not forget
The living are busy living
Only the dead do not forget
1994
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