021126
We Could've Been Friends, China
We could've been friends, China
We could've been fine
I could've been there by now
If only it wasn't like these times
Where the greater picture and those individualistic desires
Are nothing but a prop
To loyalty we lay each of our own
And to my integrity I'll never sell out
But we could've been the best of times
Such brothers in arms for a revolution against the Spaniards
And a fellow comrade in pain of two World Wars
If you had found the empathy of being once a colony
It's not hard to put yourself in our shoes if ours are exploited
For resources
You would've known then, for you've been there
But how then, my fellow neighbor
That such strain we put up now
Each of our own person ruptured to test our ground
For I don't trust you now
When a flag waved brutality on its own people
Suppresses, cleanses the ethnicity
the diversity of its own people
I will never step on your soil
For this is more than a conviction
It's a matter of remembrance
When I was kid, I used to watch skits
Here, an import, pirated goods
Of arts, of culture
There's curiosity and exposure
And what are sensibilities,
They're somehow resonant, not so distant
That we are the most acquainted
No matter how we flip the pages
If the war broke out
It wasn't because I recognized you
You caused it
And I take an intellectual refuge somewhere else
If I'm among the many who will fight for it
And it's not you, China
We could've shared texts
But I look at your government
How you treat your citizens
And how you exploit your neighbors
Those who seek your favor
To gamble against the hands of the West
Distrust and contempt had filled my awareness
For how much propaganda you will wage
That red flag, a strange incidence
You've forgotten those before you
You've forgotten and swaggered like a coastal goon
And the likeness of both of our past
Must be contrived and come to pass
Alas, here, witness this
That the enemy of my enemy
Is my friend
Where should I flock in call of danger that you'd caused?
If I seek to enlighten my curiosity, where do I pivot?
Where then? But to Tokyo
Not in HongKong
A city I better knew
Since childhood
Than anywhere else
We could've exhanged jokes, China
We should make the best buddies
If only, but this is a dream
I don't trust you, I never will
For this unquenched thirst of interest
I would've known Lao Tzu
I would've known Confucius
I would've appreciated your erhu
Directly from you
But I doubt you, I don't trust you
Not now
Not today or tomorrow
Who knows how much propaganda you'll infuse
And treachery shall become my emblem?
If in good faith I engage with my inclination
But if inclination will be turned to manipulation
And manipulation will become a psychological operation
Be damned and be gone
I'm not a sell out
Here, I'll study Nihongo
Strange bedfellows
When I could've mastered Hanzi in one go
Here, I would've known HongKong
I would've visited Macau
But if I looked back
What are the chances you're not surveilling me now?
Eyes of every HongKongers are wary
One wrong move and it's a penalty
After they've fought for their autonomy
In the land of democracy
I don't lose my autonomy
That's how it goes, once an ally
That's how it will soon be
Recall the days of our community
Knitted each of our social tapestry
My father's friend is your descendant
My father's films
And most of my consciousness are affinities
Along with the Indians
Both HongKong and Manila are the Pearl of the Orient
This is where our countries once had a galleon trade
Our own people smoke and held fowls
Put them in a fight, and adore them by their flight
When was it?
But gone, forgotten
There's a lineage of an old royal family in Sulu
They've toasted drinks with the Emperor
They were the best of friends
That could've been us, if you had not forgotten
Should I linger too much for this history?
If military tanks and ships are what you're flaunting
Right at our face, here, in the South China Sea?
Harass, my good friend
And intimidate
That these stories recorded somewhere,
Likely they're better not chosen
But forgotten
For the sake of narrative
That will suit these military ships,
Tanks and nuclear bombs
To fuel much better propulsion
Gone is your respected culture
Stripped and laid bare
Seek destruction if by nature
When you can seize all the parts
You will deem as your land
Ah, we could've thrived
I'm certain it could've been with your citizens
I'm certain I would've asked them too
But it will not do,
It will not
For I don't trust you,
Not now, not today or tomorrow
Anywhere in the near future
What strain it is, don't you think?
I've even grown to be cautious of your Hanzi
But I won't be a xenophobic idiot
Like the rest of what's said and done
Yet these appreciations I have are hanging by a thread,
My curiosity left un-flourished
For we reach a stale state
My once forgotten friend and acquaintance
