Heroes

Socrates

Was the first to go.

He penned pornography,

(Or so it said

In the People’s Daily),

Corrupted the youth,

Asked too many questions

About the Great Leap Forward,

Like why we were burning pots

And spoons in backyard furnaces.

 

A plane crash was engineered

On the night of his exile,

Authorized

By the highest levels.

 

Jesus

Died a year later.

Marxist at heart,

Raised by a generation

Of peasants, accused

The village chief

(A nephew of Premier Li)

Of money laundering,

And inflating the corn figures.

 

Soon, Red Guards arrived

At Jesus’ house, waving

Hammers and torches.

He jumped into a pond before

They had time to crucify him.

 

Buddha

Laughed too much

And his belly was bulging.

On the Thursday parade,

They shaved his head

On one side only,

Whipped him

Until he cried

And confessed

His partiality to motorcycles.

 

He was sent to Guangzhou

And Dalian and everywhere

Officials visited, to uproot

The wheat from all the fields,

Only to gather them

Into a single acre,

Until it was so dense

It looked like the imperial

Carpeting at Forbidden City.

 

He died clutching

An empty stomach.