All Hail Freedom

We are commoners,

imprisoned in a party that trapped us eager

with fabricated lies, “oh the freedom we are under.”

Privacy leaked to whom that held the power,

stripped out of our clothes, we’ve become their blank paper.

We are commoners,

who never understood the meaning of anger,

yet our opinions censored could fill up a binder.

Quarantined in our homeland like invaders for

countless days… confined in a place

smaller than a heart chamber.

We are commoners,

unique by culture and unbroken by barriers,

our blood flows down along the Yellow River,

yet separated - by the ethnicity on our cover.

Innocent sisters sent to the mysterious ‘learning center’.

We are commoners,

somehow accurate at guessing the words of the fortune-teller,

the one claimed to be our dignity and liberty protector.

Winged creatures caught in the hands of the rooster –

Do flightless birds dream of flying?

We are commoners,

No authority of our own,
but faith in a chimerical revolution we offer.

A belief that solidarity leads us to empower

a loud voice that can save us because there is no other.

The wings of a butterfly flutter.

In front of the red flag we stand

uncertain as the future waves its hand.

All hail freedom….