The Older Generation
By Ha Jin
I saw how they lived with restrictions.
Hardly past thirty they began to decline.
Like fish trapped in an invisible net,
they swam in all directions
but couldn't get anywhere.
They had to surrender to the country
and it let it consume them at will.
They were like trees dependent
on the strength of the forest, but none
could stand tall and straight alone.
Their dreams were banished into caves
and withered away, never able to sprout.
While alive, they tried hard
to garner praise from everyone
so as to become model ghosts afterward.
Copyright Credit: Ha Jin, "The Older Generation" from A Distant Center. Copyright © 2018 by Ha Jin. Reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.
Source: A Distant Center (2018)