It Has Not Been the First Time Lhasa

it has not been the first time Lhasa

it has not been the first time Lhasa
was strewn with sick and powerless
khatas. just as from a thousand
miles away, Rangoon carried
abandoned sandals like a lost
mother, with tear gas in her
autumn eyes –
the square here today lies
pallid underneath a sea of
cotton and silk
at once meaningless
in their untimely sacrifice
.

Yi-Ching Lin

Posted over on her site Yi's Bits on "Healthy Doses"