Drunken lines

this country once passions reigned
barbarians and moralists
galloped into the fray.
its multi-faceted poets'
drunken lines echo
heartfelt cries of builders
who carried slabs up mountains,
crafty empress tying ropes
round people's bellies to stifle revolts,
and palace butchers who
devoured manhood
for the king's womenfolks,
female infants' unkind fate with mother's towels.
yet this record it shows
with pride of birth numbers.
the verses of drunken poets
that lent a paradise for
a moment's escape from these dungeons of madness
the gifts of Li Bai, Su Tong Po...

poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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