Dedicated to my Youth, Page 2

  Don’t ask me why.

  Why did no one help them when they cry?

  Too Ignorant, selfish and busy to try.

  Sister, Sister, why did you sigh?

  Don’t ask me why.

  Why were the truthful people’s hands tied?

  Dangerously threaten the government’s lie.

  Part V Confession?

  Confession

  Dear God,

  Why do I have to be born?

  Even my conscience is destined to be torn.

  Why do you let me bleed?

  Even my cold-blood heart could never be heated.

  Dear God,

  I don’t intend to tell lies,

  But I tell to everyone

  Since the day I learn to cry,

  To the night I give my final sigh.

  Dear God,

  Promise me a blissful afterlife,

  Even I should just vanish after I die.

  When I kneel before you, please don’t tease,

  Even I am becoming a gruesome beast.

  Dear God,

  I never believe you throughout my life,

  I seldom sense you when I gaze upon the sky,

  Even you have never been,

  Can you pardon all my sin?

  Sympathy Breakdown

  I used to feel the world,

  Feel the people’s pain in my heart twirls.

  Down at the street, I saw the beggars lie,

  Where my soul will meet their solemn eyes.

  I used to know the Earth,

  Understand men’s distress since their birth.

  Up on the screen, I saw famine children cry,

  Where my heart was attached to their mind.

  Now I don’t taste the hunger from Ethiopia

  But a table of scrumptious food with desire.

  I don’t feel the sore sickness from Africa

  But a map of shifting lines fighting for power.

  How all these were slowly changed?

  I wish I could tell.

  But growing up is really strange.

  No one could really help.

  Possible Way Out?

  What Time has to say

 

  I see a lovely girl turns into an old hag,

  A wise joke becomes a rotten gag

 

  I see a naïve boy grows into a working class hero,

  A hero who consumes too much cholesterol,

  Then cancer eats his soul,

  And turns him into a skeleton in the soil.

 

  I see passion develops into tension

  Mother’s ardent gaze becomes a bitter taste

  Father’s sweet lies change to savage cries

  Another miraculous candle in the dark world dies

 

  Every sleepless night

  Leads you closer to your future grave.

  Every glimpse on your screen

  Is a loss that you cannot save

 

  Don’t ask me why I am here.

  I am always here,

  And space is my brother.

 

  But wait, don’t try to die,

  See my another side,

  You can still change the tide,

  Depends on how you see and ride,

  If you know, you can even fly.

  But why?

 

  Because…

  I see a worker’s son nurtured into a genius,

  Villagers are no longer superstitious,

  I see conflicts ends into harmony, Tyrannies fell and came liberty.

 

  Can’t you see? The dark force was restored back to balance by Skywalker.

  The cold deserts were livened up to green fields by Nausicaa.

 

  But do they linger?

  Are hope and love always here?

 

  I cannot answer. You are the one who should.

  Embrace life with a bittersweet smile

  Miguel found himself in a boundless grassland,

  Has he died? Is this the ultimate end?

  An end to the meaningless ordeal that we must endure.

  He finally laid down on the grass,

  Let time came and passed.

  Days, months, years flowed fast.

  He soon forgot everything

  Except the fact that this would forever lasted.

  He once again closed his eyes,

  Suddenly he felt someone was standing on his left side,

  An unfamiliar face that he recognized,

  Seems like just met her yesterday,

  But thousands of years has passed by.

  She had red hair, green eyes and pale skin,

  Not so tall and rather thin,

  Seems like she is about nineteen.

  She walked closer and started to grin.

  “Hello Miguel, how do you feel?”

  “Who are you and are you real?”

  “Reality or illusion depends on your point of view.”

  “I feel bored, meaningless and confused.”

  She then gently pulled him up,

  And asked bluntly, “Remember me?”

  Miguel touched his forehead to retrieve his memory…

  Screams, bombs and battlefield,

  Bodies, ruins and misery

  Miguel gazed at her and slowly whispered,

  “Yes, December 1938 in Barcelona…

  Bombs and canon fire fell on Catalonia,

  Men and women from all land fought bravely together,

  The Fascists pressed stronger and we held tighter.”

  She smiled lightly and cuddled him tenderly,

  Miguel took a deep breath and murmured vaguely,

  “Yes, Granuaile, how can I forget so easily?

  My dear comrade from Ireland who acted selflessly.

  We shared the same aspirations and passion

  You want to be a journalist and I want to be a physician.

  We promised to travel to Peru when the war reaches its conclusion.”

  Miguel asked, “So why am I here? Is this death?”

  “No, we must live on and this is just a temporary rest.”

  “But I would not go back to that ocean of sorrow.

  Dreams have come and gone like the winter snow.

  We are bound by fantasies and wishes which would never be true.

  Heroes are long gone and idols are ghosts

  Miracles are lies and disillusion is my soul

  My heart fractures into a never-ending dark void.”

  Granuaile said, “Desire less and treasure what you hold,

  Love the ones and things that will be with you until you’re old.

  Future path will never be ideal and gold

  But setbacks and disappointment are beautiful stories yet to be told.”

  Granuaile leads Miguel to walk for a few miles,

  “To go back, just whisper - embrace life with a bittersweet smile,”

  “Will you still be with me if I really do so?”

  “Yes, just wake me up by whispering the same code.”

  Ground shook and bombs exploded,

  Miguel found himself back to the genuine soil.

  Bodies were beside him and he found Granuaile,

  Her breath grew weaker with a fading smile.

  “Embrace life with a bittersweet smile,”

  Miguel shook her body while muttering the words from his dried throat,

  Granuaile never woke no matter how many times the code were told,

  “Yes, embrace life with a bittersweet smile”

  Miguel put her down and gave a bittersweet smile.

  Ephemeral Fire

  I write these a few last lines,

  As I have given all the cries.

  You have been through the end,

  I thank you deeply without lies.

  Words can be always written down,

  But I waste days and desert time.
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br />   Beauty fades away like our smile,

  Life after youth is not worthwhile.

  Warmer, Warmer!

  Melt down all these walls.

  Even we will build them again,

  Taste the short-lived embrace.

  Blue people just exist for the past,

  Numb people work for the present,

  But no one live for the future,

  Because we cannot find a true one.

  Hundreds of strangers passing by,

  We fall in love, forget and sigh.

  Coming and leaving in our heart,

  You shine, you fly, and die.

  Cycles, cycles!

  Travel back through time,

  Even the world is moving on,

  Feel that you stay there forever.

  Closer, closer!

  Transmit the pain to others,

  Even destined to part again,

  Share the pain and your fear.

  Breathe in, my dear!

  Live through the air with care.

  Even all sensation will be washed,

  Ignite the ephemeral fire.

  *Ephemeral Fire’s prose is largely based on Snow Patrol’s song Run