Featured Poems: Merabsarpa

“December”

1．

“Hear ye!” The big lie shall blot the sky,

Two sparrows in the wood shall fall.

“Tibet,” he says, “Tibet is fine and flourishing!”

The furious girl will not bite her tongue.

Everywhere the monastic robe has lost its color.

They say: It’s to save our skin.

But that one, oh,

The steaming blood poured out, the hot blood!

In the next life, who will grieve for him?

2．

Storm clouds! Doom!

In my mind’s eye I see.

I know if I don’t speak now

I’ll be silent forever.

Sullen millions,

Lift up your hearts.

He was sacrificed once,

That man of deep red hue.

But as the tree of life is evergreen,

A soul is always a soul.

3．

A worse defeat!

Thousands of trees, blighted as never before.

The little folk are quiet as a cricket in the cold.

The pair of praying hands

Was chopped off

To cram the bellies of kites and curs.

Oh, that rosary unseen,

Who is worthy with a firm hand

To pick it up from the slime of this world?

- By Tsering Woeser, December 1995, Lhasa

— FROM Tibet’s True Heart (Ragged Banner Press, 2008)

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DEFINING A NATION

The glory of a nation

Can be found in its people

Not in its rulers

The ruin of a nation

Can be found in its rulers

Not in its people

The wealth of a nation

Can be found in its values

Not in its money

The heart of a nation

Can be found in its streets

Not in its citadels of power

The joy of a nation

Can be found in its heart

Not in its celebrations

The beliefs of a nation

Can be found in its people’s silent prayers

Not in its politicians’ loud speeches

The strength of a nation

Can be found in its roots

Not in its branches

The power of a nation

Can be found in its beliefs

Not in its guns

The future of a nation

Can be found in its will

Not in its power

By Tsoltim N. Shakabpa