Even Lilacs Have a Tell

“The Chinese people have been forced to forget the Tiananmen massacre. There has been no public debate about the event, no official apology. The media aren't allowed to mention it. Still today people are being persecuted and imprisoned for disseminating information about it.” -Ma Jain

But in his hand, he clutched a lilac.

He shattered like droplets in the air.

And yet still we walked back, yet still we walked back.

Entranced, shell-shocked, we returned to our Trojan Horse.

We cried with crimson tears as we stared.

But in his hand, he clutched a lilac.

Your wounds, I knew, couldn’t be fixed by a nurse.

And I prayed, and I had pleaded you wouldn't go to there.

And yet still we walked back, yet still we walked back.

Every step we took was closer to our hearse.

The jagged cries of our soul-shattered despair.

But in his hand, he clutched a lilac.

Forgotten, uprooted, both ended by force.

In morning, unknown, He stood alone against four tanks.

And yet still we walked back, yet still we walked back.

Just one single bullet I will never reverse.

And my son, he still lies in Tiananmen Square.

But still in his hand, he clutched a lilac.

And yet still we walk back, yet still we walk back.