They Came

By Yucheng Tao

Originally published in Cathexis Northwest Press

Tuol Sleng
like a poisonous flower
exhaling
a piercing venom.
The palm trees swayed
beneath the faltering shadow,
a procession of bones
   
     —the dead—
labeled as intellectuals.
They came
like a gust of wind,
They came
like a herd of wild beasts.
They came
slaughter upon slaughter,
cursing Tuol Sleng,
damning its streets and rivers.
They regarded themselves as fanatical idealists,
But never, made the place a paradise.
Passion torched it into a fiery hell.
They came
with frantic lusts.
They came to Cambodia—
its flesh drenched in rouge.
When Tuol Sleng opened,
Moonlight buried people
in a sunken pit of earth.
None to cry those words:
     “They came!”

Yucheng Tao, originally from China, studies songwriting at the MI College of Contemporary Music in Los Angeles. His poetry has appeared in Cathexis Northwest Press, NonBinary Review (which reprinted his poem “Blue Horse” with an author interview), Moonstone Art Center, Spillwords, Synchronized Chaos, The Arcanist, Ink Nest, Poetry Potion, Literary Yard, and Apocalypse Confidential, among others.