CHINESE COSMETICS

CHINESE COSMETICS

Emancipation is but a mere Chinese cosmetic

On the dark skins of our thoughts

It has been a yummy bone

Before a famished toothless bulldog

It has been an alarm clock

 That keeps ticking but never sounds

When will independence transcend

Beyond erection and unveiling of monuments

Amidst routine nerve-racking march passes

And null and void ceremonial speeches

To an absolute overhaul

 Of our mental faculties and attitudes

When would we have a tailor-cut vision as a people

Devoid of damaging external influence

When would we wean our fortunes

From the cancerous over-dependence

On the uncharitable West

Whose offers are typically honey-coated gallbladders

Of what essence is formal education

If its syllabi tend to suppress our thoughts

And stifle our inner expressions

Of what essence is Western education

If the more education we receive

The more illiterate we become

Let us wake up from our ancient slumber

Let us arise and purge ourselves

Of those Chinese cosmetics on our minds

Let us redefine freedom

Let us disentangle ourselves

From those invisible twines from the West

This is our land

 This is our heritage

Posterity stares at us in the face

And we have no excuse to fail them

Arise!