By Leonard S. Tao
PROMPT — The way I see it ...
there is a net, like a honey’s hive,
we are bees deprived of stings,
being endlessly moulded.
burdened with responsibility to circle,
losing the true nature, ourselves.
there is a net, like a spider’s web,
grids of class entrap us—
you are on one end, I on the other.
flies hover at the edge, to the center,
while the spider waits, poised to devour.
there is a net, destined to be torn
by a beast’s primal and angry roar,
whether through violence, or silence,
or brilliance woven by dreams.
when the shackles turn into ash,
the flower of freedom, at last, blooms.
Leonard S. Tao is a young poet and translator from Chengdu, China. Currently, he is a PhD student at Hunan University, as well as a visiting PhD student at National University of Singapore. He also serves as an editor of Mint Reading, where he writes about the social background and cultural knowledge in a book, including places, customs, and myths. His poems can be found in Pennsylvania English, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, and Blue Lake Review, etc. Leonard writes from Singapore.
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