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Why should anyone care
That they came to Tiananmen Square
And held their heads high in the air,
Together to hope and to dare?
Why should anyone care?
Why should we care that the students were joined
by workers from railroads and mines and mills,
from farms and from banks and the national news--
joined to demand democratic reform--
bringing their banners proclaiming, "We've come!"
a million strong in the streets of Beijing, blocking the way
of the tanks and the truckloads of soldiers--
bringing them food, and laughing and joking--and trusting--
sharing the joy of belief in a better tomorrow.
The count of those fasting is more than three thousand,
lying together in Tiananmen Square.
Raising their eyes, they see two giant figures,
waiting and watching--but why should we care?
The one, Chairman Mao, awaits with grim patience
the protesters' fate on the pavement below.
Given to China by God or the Devil,
he's gone now and only his legacy lingers.
His stoic and two-dimensional likeness
stands guard at the gate of the city forbidden.
The other, "Democracy's Goddess" by name,
the three-dimensional work of the students,
inspired more or less by the copper-clad lady
on watch in the harbor that borders Manhattan--
a gift from the people of France,
to celebrate something we share,
and which only will die when we let it.
They stare at each other across the square,
"Democracy's Goddess" and Mao the Chairman,
like chess masters brooding in silence,
who contemplate sacrificing their pawns,
in pursuit of a strategy leading to checkmate.
Hid from our eyes but of utmost importance,
while protesters wearied and dwindled in number,
the leaders of China behind their closed doors
remembered a saying of Mao:
the saying that tells about power and barrels of guns.
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The leaders collected their loyalties,
marshalled their armies,
and waited.
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Maybe the portrait of Mao,
that poker-faced sentinel over the square,
blinked, as a signal that now was the time,
having sensed how the bright flash of zeal for democracy
down in the square had now dimmed to a medium glow.
Or maybe "Democracy" dozed.
Whatever the signal and however sent,
the army moved in with ruthless intent
and no thought of the lies that leaders invent.
Why should anyone care
What occured in Tiananmen Square
When the soldiers and tanks got there,
And their gunpowder smoke filled the air?
Why should anyone care?
Why should we care that hundreds were killed
when the bullets cut row-upon-row to the ground
and the tanks rolled over the living and dying,
crushing not only the protesters' bodies,
but also the glimmering spark of reform and democracy--
crushing the hope of the people along with their bones.
"THERE WAS NO BLOOD SHED ON TIANANMEN SQUARE.
THE PEOPLE'S ARMY WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO THE PEOPLE."
Why should anyone care?
The transcendent evil done there,
was not just the blood in the square,
but the lies of official denial--
the abduction and summary trial
of the thousands who after a while
were sought out and punished or killed
for the crime of the hope that they shared
in Tiananmen Square.
The icy injection of fear in the hearts of the people--
the fear of speaking the truth in public,
the fear of speaking the truth in private,
the fear of thinking the truth,
the fear of feeling the silent truth in their hearts,
the fear of informers among friends and family,
their minds and their hearts
overcome by the poisonous lies of their leaders--
That icy injection of fear chills the heart,
kills the hope in the soul.
Lies are the ultimate weapon,
firing the bullets of fear.
Why should anyone care,
That they came to Tiananmen Square,
And held their heads high in the air,
Together to hope and to dare?
Why should anyone care?
Doesn't anyone care?
Doesn't anyone fear lest we all perish there,
in Tiananmen Square?
Copyright 1989 by Searle Crate
All Rights Reserved
used by permission