It was a capital offence

To pick up scattered grains of corn

My mother was executed

For such a ghastly crime of greed

But I survived those terrible years

Many died but I ate the leftover rats rotting

And drank the acid waters

From the blank putrid sewers


I am now a minor official in charge of the rabid dogs

Which bring a sort of bleak peace to the empty streets

Yet things often go wrong when these dogs escape

I once had to burn down a seminary full of young priests

When the dogs entered the building unlocked

Their wretched hollow screams still haunt me

The reality destroyed them

As they roasted in their own body fat

There was no caring God

To rescue these doomed men

COLLATERAL DAMAGE I stamped COLLATERAL DAMAGE

On a million sheets of rice paper which I later consumed

NO TRACE NO RECORDS NO RECORDS NO TRACE

That was the official party line
Listen not to the rumours and lies
We are watching you closely

I have hidden my past but I still thirst for a revenge so awful

That I cannot think about it with any reason in this darkness

But God still talks to me in my deep timeless dreams

There is hope but do I understand what is required of me