To Conquer Is To Float
Ref: China Attacks Dalai Lama
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/world/asia/china-attacks-dalai-lama-in-online-burst.html
To Conquer Is To Float
There is a split with heaven like
splinters in the floor of the ocean
The tsunami of Han Chinese rise;
yet, a glorious ignorance
enlightens floating corpses
in the mountains of Tibet
Worry for the victor
who reigns on mountains:
the tears of rivers
overflowing with
Tibetan spirits
Does the wave
claim to be grounded in honor
if it destroys
Can it split mountains
and not be in the crack of Hell
Vicious are victors
afraid of ghosts
There is a Lama in the house
and a question of where
rain reigns, where
a split with heaven will
let tyrants name themselves
gods at roll call, let little names
be engraved on their tombstones
let dragons be afraid of
ghosts flooding graveyards, spirits
doing splits and acrobatics, afraid of
death and
legs of two worlds splayed across lost faces
spirits sitting on victors ingloriously soiled
— Douglas Gilbert
