True Words Poetry Anthology

True Words Poetry Anthology

True Words Anthology
The True Words anthology is a collection of poems written for the cause of human rights awareness in
China. To date, over 3,000 adherents of Falun Gong have been killed, 100,000 sent to labour camps, and
who have been tortured and persecuted. This continues through until this day.
The following poems express the concern of Falun Gong practitioners and poets located around the
world regarding the Chinese Communist Party’s on-going persecution of the tai chi like practice in China.
Recounting the Sichuan earthquake tragedy and the Beijing Olympics, and the larger effects of
Communism in the Soviet Union, the anthology also features an exclusive reworking of the poem The
Child That was Beaten To Death By Soldiers In Nayinga by Ingrid Jonker, reworked by her daughter
Simone Cillers Venter and an exclusive interview that concludes the collection.
Contents
1.The Child That Was Beaten To Death By Soldiers in Beijing
2.I am Falun Gong
3.Sichuan,
4. Beijing,
5.The 15 Syllables
6.Poetic passages
7.Your own country has thrown you away
8. The red dragon slayer,
9. Tall tale of a meltdown
10.Grand chinese new year show
[a translation of the Afrikaans poem, written by Ingrid Jonker, and read by Nelson Mandela at his First
speech to the Nations 1st Democratic election in 1994.It draws on a similar event regarding a child and
his mother who were killed by police during the Segregation era in South Africa. I am the daughter of the
poet and a Falun Dafa practitioner, and so i have drawn a comparison between Communist China and the
old Apartheid government.]
The child that was beaten to death by soldiers in Beijing.
The child is not dead
the child lifts his fists against his 'mother'[C.C.P]
who cries China! cries the breath
of freedom and country
in the Mainland of the heart under siege.
The child lifts his fists against his 'father'[C.C.P]
in the march of the generations
who cry China! cry the breath
of righteousness and blood
in the streets of his appeal for justice
The child is not dead
not at Shandong, nor at Changchun
nor at Heilongjiang, nor at Tianennman Square
nor at the police station at Beijing
where he lies beaten, bruised and frozen.
The child is the shadow of the soldiers
on guard with guns, amour-plated police vehicles
and batons
the child is present at all meetings and legislations
the child peeps through the windows of houses and into the hearts
of mothers
the child who just wanted to play in the sun at Shandong
is everywhere
the child grown to a man travels through all China
the child grown to a giant journeys
through the whole world
without the Chinese Communist Party.
****************************
'and if I may be poetic, may I compare a child to a rose, and a rose to a child, who would dare to make
war against the roses?' Ingrid Jonker.
I Am Falun Gong
In minds that have no consciousness
Innocent eyes that shine like stars......
Persecuted by poison tongues
That don't have the word 'humanity'
In their dictionary
You live free in a lie
While innocent souls die
For a belief that's existed
Throughout centuries
As I ache daily
Protecting my life
I am human like you
Your life like mine
Has the same breath
Yet my brothers wantonly
Killed by the evils in you
Barbaric practices
The world does not see
Who are you to tell me who I should be?
You must be blind of the lives you took
Cold hearts that need to be changed
Or maybe your deaf
As cries of death you don't hear
All we wish to be is free
free
free
free
to believe
to believe
Pulled by my roots like a flower
Unable to grow
You take away my faith
making me feel unsafe
too sad to shed a tear
The world's deaf ear
Needs to be heard
As others fight
I pray for hate to cease
And for love to flow
Human rights persecuted
Day in day out
By your inhumane ways
give me back my right
that enables me to have religious freedom
I AM FALUN GONG....
By Baby M
Sichuan
As the earth trembles
And buildings fall,
Your heart seized by fear.
I think of your children,
Such innocent lives,
My eyes shedding tear.
Decades of suffering,
Long before this quake,
Living under a 'party's' reign.
Come free yourself,
Let your people know truth,
Many years of lies to blame.
The world hears your cries,
Feels your loss,
And hopes for brighter days.
I think of your children,
Such innocent lives,
Free yourself now from the 'party's' ways!
By an Australian Practitioner
Beijing
Smiles gold
by State-control,
on darkest wing
and inhuman sting,
talons and claws
where no rule of law,
silence for trade
the shameless parade.
One-party reign
a beast untamed,
behind the lies
such endless crimes,
bloodstained hands
no conscience to stand,
from an evil lair,
how long to bear?
Terror and fear
the fall of tears,
with eyes turned blind
poisoning minds,
many rights denied
with much to hide,
and freedom may sing
but not in Beijing!
By an Australian Practitioner
The Fifteen Syllables
From here to shangri la it's spreading throughout the universe,
the Dafa law is breaking through bounds, not just an omniverse.
More various than every single being that is being,
eternally seeing when enlightened to the true meaning.
It is consistent whether you are with it or you are not.
The choice is yours, to attain the way or be forever caught.
There are so many things to distract, so many that detract
from the place one should truly be with unstoppable impact.
So much to be done and so much that is being truly lacked,
but breaking through the mind's troubles, one can find the right way back.
On the double, break through the bubble, a world that's full of lies,
return to the truth or may the heart be filled with utter sighs.
Opening eyes is the way that never stops being righteous,
once the truth is applied, can't be denied, no one can fight this.
Truly a constant cycle, constantly spinning, mending all.
Some return to the right place, some may rise up and others fall.
If one can see what is the truth, what is good and what goes on,
one has found the right steps to permanency, yes, never gone...
By Sharif Sourour aka Logically Rare
Poetic Passages
A dark chapter in Chinese history witnessed
All the imprisoned practitioners please set them free
False government footage of a practitioner
Setting himself alight
Nothing but a hoax and a lie
How many hypnotised behind the TV Screen
Oblivious to the reality
How many have been scarred by the dragons claw
Amongst wealthy and poor
Human rights groups come together
Find the truth in an Amnesty International report
Nine Commentaries do a more accurate job than
textbooks where the CCP genocide is omitted
Now the killings must be disclosed
The truth they cannot withhold
An open secret the world knows
The injustices cannot be permitted
Letting the truth be known from neighbour
to borough, to city to country to
the Chinese Embassy outside
the lotus positioned protest peacefully
Endeavor to play our parts
Giving a hand and a hand to strum some strings
and a voice for Dafa's goodness we sing
The labour camps
Just a bad memory
Like the camps in Auschwitz
I had visited some five years ago
viewing the spectacle of crushed glasses
from those killed in the chambers
used for industrial materials
and state commerse absurd
the pattern in history
all the events in my life
arranged neatly and meaningfully
The time nears
When China is free
From the terror of the CCP
Thirty Three million and counting
Things are turning around
The world turns around and awakens
My hope is renewed
A breakthrough now underway
The practitioners beaten and bruised
Tortured and various forms of abuse
Those who have survived
Live to tell a harrowing tale
Lawyers hold their tongue
Gao Zhisheng speaking out
The honesty he speaks from his mouth
Corrupt judicial forces can't stand
And want to rule out
As I read his book my tears poured out
Nine Commentaries
A true history and narrative
Spread across the provinces
An Olympic torch
burns as a symbol of justice
Nothing like the dragon flame
Nine Commentaries
The story of Horatio
From Shakespeare's Hamlet
Laying bare the CCP
Officials making speeches like Claudius
'The time is out of joint'
Practitioners move as one body
Nine commentaries
Brings all the skeletons out the closet
Harvesting organs from Dafa practitioners
Just for Government profit?
Only speechlessness can really articulate
The shame of it
Chinese language
It's configurations sacred
The CCP augment it
and want to make it a bunch of matchstick figures
depicting nothing
Of the practitioners dead
The souls from the bodies fled
By Zubyre Parvez aka The Alchemy
Your own country has thrown you away
They are persecuted for doing something kind,
And I don’t quite get it, it there something wrong with mankind,
Those who carry virtue are treated just like slaves,
Your own country has thrown you away,
I cant blame people because they don't know the truth,
So I tell them it's a holocaust, just like what happened to the Jews,
But though you've been raped and tortured, you've never ever lost faith,
Your own country has thrown you away,
Bridge
Hand cuffed and rounded up,
Taking their lives away,
The dragon vents its rage on us,
Only for showing love,
A cold hearted persecution,
Taking their lives away,
So we've gotta find a resolution,
And truly show some love to the world.
Truth, compassion, and tolerance could be the principles of man,
If I held the scales of justice in the palm of my hand,
Diamond hearts can never be changed even if you say,
Your own country has thrown you away.
Those great mountains, they look down on this land,
Why man can't fix his problems, they don't understand,
Why can't all men have their freedom, and live in peace today,
Your own country has thrown you away.
By Ben Hedges aka Zen Ben.
The Red Dragon Slayer
I.The red dragon dives through the night,
Eating or killing those below,
Seems like fifty years without light,
The scared young man approaches slow.
II.
Twilight village, quiet morning,
His statement nailed on a pole hangs,
The first daylight soon adorning,
"I quit your dark Communist gang."
III.
Police bang hard at his locked door,
A small baby begins to cry,
An empty dish breaks on the floor,
No one bothers to ask them, "Why?"
IV.
Burning flesh and muffled screams fill,
The communist labor camp walls,
Trying in vain to break his will,
Outside, red leaves begin to fall.
V.
Looking straight in the dragons eyes,
Others try to run away fast,
In its mouth a poor victim dies,
The young man's thoughts of death have passed.
VI.
The camp guard looks in the man's eyes,
Freedom and blood stuck on his face,
The sickened guard tries not to cry,
"We should throw him out of this place!"
VII.
Half alive on a Beijing street,
Two directions that one might go,
Already on his shoeless feet,
What good is a sword that is slow?
VIII.
Bright village on a bustling day,
Returning like a floating soul,
Everyone has something to say,
Twenty statements are on the pole.
IX.
How easy it seems to remove,
The red dragons huge ugly head,
Looking back now it seems to prove,
The great fear was all in his head.
By Evan Mantyk
9) Tall Tale of a Meltdown
Crows step through the wreckage
in a land where a dark cloud
swirled the inhabitants away.
A regular day lays frozen in fear,
from twenty-five years ago.
Rusted cribs still stand against peeling teal paint.
The stirrups of birthing chairs sprawl on the street.
A doll missing legs lost its fleeing child,
and weeds of knives thrive through the tiny bent desks.
The people abandoned the Soviet bastion,
where brush grows over a meltdown in time.
The reactor even scared off their ghosts,
and they fled that April the acid rain
by Catherine Zickgraf
Grand Chinese New Year Show
(Written for New Tang Dynasty TV Chinese New Year Spectacular)
Oh Chinese culture, so wise and so old!
Now choked in communist dictator's hold.
Great dynasties, great stories came and went,
Now people forget what old proverbs meant.
Wise dragons, kind warriors, spiritual quests,
Now stories have them, but they've lost what's best,
Great virtue! Truth, Compassion, Tolerance,
Now gone is people's most basic good sense.
For years, in my mind, such tragic thoughts churned,
Then, one day, my hope for China returned.
I went to a grand Chinese New Year show,
Free of communism's clutch, it seemed to glow.
Transported on stage, to another world
Of dragons, swords, and beauties, I was hurled.
A place of vast kingdoms and great heroes,
Where Chinas semi-divine culture shows.
East or West, no show has such majesty,
This, I thought, is the new Tang Dynasty.
By Evan Mantyk
Contributors
Evan Mantyk
In his words
A working man. A family man. A writing man. But principally A man of principle.
Some of his poetry is on www.mantykpost.blogspot.com
Ben Hedges
A Falun Dafa Practitioner from England
Sharif Sourour
A Falun Dafa Practitioner from Canada
Baby M
Mswordswithmusic aka Baby M ***** is a poet..writer..amateur photgrapher/digical artist.
She is inspired by life,music,art,love,everyday happenings,dreams,thoughts/sunny days/rainy
days/nature/characters. Music touches everybody,one particular track she heard touched her soul deeper
of which she was inspired to write a poem called The Dance it was also her 1st spoken word to music
made possible by brotha.deep who's music it was that inspired her. She has been honoured and blessed
to work with artists and producers so creative and talented from all over the world who inspire and
encourage her to this day.. they can be viewed under band members please do check there
pages music of many genres. Baby M was honoured to have been featured on
www.americandiversityreport.com which is read in 70 countries (the president being Deborah Levine an
award winning author) with her human rights spoken word poem I am Falun Gong JM Tavella from
Argentina composed the music for this poem..the instrument he plays is a santur which is actually a
traditional indian instrument. Also featured on www.freedomforchinablogspot.com She was very honoured
to have been on the USA .. Poetry Over Music volume 3 album please do click on there page in my
friends to hear about there movement & the wonderful vibe there so many gifted artists among them you
can also listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com.EntrepreneursOnTheMove
Anon.
Falun Dafa practitioner from Australia
Zubyre Parvez
Zubyre Parvez is a poet who has had poetry published in Callused Hands, Poetry Visions, and Kobita
Bangla poetry publication, among others. Shortlisted in a competition judged by Margaret Atwood and
Simon Armitage and winning joint prize in a Hertfordshire University poetry competition.
Catherine Zickgraf
Catherine Zickgraf quit law school to be a writer. Let’s hope it pans out.
You can find her blog at myspace.com/czickgraf Her writing has appeared in the
Journal of the American Medical Association, Pank, and Bartleby-Snopes.
She also has work forthcoming in GUD Magazine and A cappella Zoo.
Ingrid Jonker ~In Spirit~
Nelson Mandela’s words about this poet: in his opening speech may 1994 'she was both a poet and a
south african. she was both an afrikaner and an african. she was both an artist and a human being.
in the midst of dispair she celbrated hope. confronted by death, she asserted the beauty of life.
to her and others like her we owe a debt.
Appendix
Q&A with daughter of South African Poet Ingrid Jonker, Simone C. Jonker Venter.
TWA: Do you feel it is fair to call Ingrid Jonker the 'South African Sylvia Plath'?
SV. Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Ingrid Jonker have been grouped together because of the similarities
regarding their lives. Also, I.J. as a poet has been compared to the Phoenix, a Mythical creature, that
rises from it's own ashes. She lives in her work,
even though it has been 45 yea since her death.
TWA: Ingrid Jonker fell into serious contention with her father, can you tell us a bit more about that?
2.A.My grandfather A.Jonker, was a Member of Parliment who walked the floor and joined the National
Party who implemented 'Segregation'. He then became Minister of the Sensorship Board, which banned
Freedom of Speech in Literature and Art.This had a divisive effect on my mother and she openly opposed
him. She and a group of writers and artists[her friends], were after all, humane and compassionate
regarding things like race etc.
TWA: How has segregation affected yourself?
3.A.I grew up in a community of wonderfull human beings, artists, writers, who openly opposed the
Segregation Government of South Africa, so, regarding Segregation and sensorship, t
hese were alien concepts to me. Living in S.A., during those years was madness to many people, the
oppression and hatred etc. I was like many others, an outcast,
especially since my mother's death on 19 July 1965. These were emotionally chaotic years, and we all
suffered.It has been very natural for me to take up the practice of Falun Gong,
as it touches upon deep concerns regarding humanity. It bears a direct relationship to everything my
mother stood for and died for, and brings me in touch with her. Falun Dafa has given me strength in the
face of adversity, and purpose.
Books and Documentaries and Films. Black Butterflies, an English Translation of selected Poems, by
Anjie Krog Ik Herhaal je, Dutch and Afrilkaans Gerrit,Komrei. Selected Poems, English Translation by
Jack Cope and William Plommer., Versamelde werke, Complete works in Afrikaans Ingird Jonker.Ingrid
Jonker Fan Club Many productions for radio and theater have been created about her and for her. Chris
Chameleon’s 'I repeat you.' Ek herhaal jou', music C.D. went double gold in South Africa in 2005.
The documentary, The lives and Times of Ingrid Jonker is also available, it also won Best Documentary in
2009. A full length film on her life is currently in production by Dutch, German and South African film
makers. It will be called 'Smoke and Ochre' after her 2nd book of verse that won the C.N.A. Best
Afrikaans Book in 1963. Because as she said 'smoke is for dreams and ochre is for earth'.
Thank you, Simone C. Jonker Venter
Appendix II
Croatian
Ja sam Falun Gong
U umovima bez savijesti
Nevine oči koje sjaje poput zvijezda...
Proganjane su otrovnim jezicima
Koji nemaju riječ "humanost"
U svojim rječnicima
Vi slobodno živite u laži
Dok nevine duše umiru
Zbog vjerovanja koja postoje stoljećima
Svaki dan bolujem
Čuvam svoj život
Čovjek sam, poput tebe
Tvoj život, kao i moj
Ima isti dah
Ipak, moja braća su divljački ubijana
Od strane zla u tebi
Barbarske radnje
Svijet ne vidi
Tko ste vi da mi kažete tko bih trebao biti?
Zatvarate oči pred životima koje ste oduzeli
Hladna srca koja se trebaju mijenjati
Ili, možda ste gluhi
Jer ne čujete smrtne krikove
Jedino što želimo je biti slobodni
Slobodni
Slobodni
Slobodni
Vjerovati
Vjerovati
Izvučen iz korijena kao cvijet
Ne mogu rasti
Oduzimate mi vjerovanje
Stvarate osjećaj nesigurnosti
Previše tužan da bih pustio suzu
Gluho uho svijeta
Mora čuti
Dok se drugi bore
Ja molim da mržnja prestane
I da teče ljubav
Ljudska prava progonjena
Iz dana u dan
Vašim neljudskim sredstvima
Vratite mi nazad moje pravo
Koje mi daje slobodu vjerovanja
JA SAM FALUN GONG
......................................................................
Spanish
En mentes sin consciencia/
Inocentes ojos que brillan como estrellas/
Perseguidos por envenenadas lenguas/
Que no tienen la palabra “humanidad” en su diccionario
Tú vives libre en una mentira/
Donde las almas inocentes mueren/
Por la creencia de que ello existió en tiempos pasados/
Como mi sufrimiento diario protegiendo mi vida
Yo soy humano como tu/
Tu vida como la mía tiene la misma respiración/
Ya mis hermanos murieron violentamente/
Por tus demonios/
Actos llenos de barbaries que el mundo no puede ver
Quien eres tú para decirme quien debería de ser?
Tú tienes que ser ciego para no ver las vidas que te llevas
Corazones fríos que necesitan ser cambiados
O quizá estés sordo como las lágrimas de la muerte que ya no escuchan/
Pues nosotros deseamos ser libres, libres, libres, libres/
Para creer…/
Arraigado por mis raíces como una flor/
Como no puedo crecer
Te llevas mi fe con el sentimiento de no estar protegido
Demasiada tristeza para derramar una lágrima
El mundo no puede escuchar y necesita ser escuchado
Mientras los otros pelean…
Yo rezo para que el odio pare y para que el amor fluya
Los derechos humanos perseguidos día tras día
Por tus senderos inhumanos
Dame de vuelta mis derechos ya que no tengo libertad de religión…
Yo soy Falun Gong…
......................................................................
Italian
In menti che non hanno coscienza
occhi innocenti brillano come stelle ......
perseguitati da lingue di veleno
che non hanno nulla di umano
voi vivete liberi nella menzogna
mentre anime innocenti muoiono
per un credo
vecchio di secoli
io soffro ogni giorno
proteggendo la mia vita
io sono un essere umano come te
la tua vita è come la mia
ha lo stesso respiro
I miei fratelli sono uccisi
dall’inferno che è in te
pratiche barbare
che il mondo non vede
chi sei tu per dirmi
chi devo essere
sei cieco delle migliaia di vite che hai stroncato
cuori gelidi che devono cambiare
sei sordo
per non sentire le grida della morte
tutto ciò che voglio è di essere libero
libero
libero
libero
di credere
di credere
spinto dalle mie radici come un fiore
incapace di crescere
tu strappi la mia fede
mi fai sentire insicuro
troppo triste per versare una lacrima
l’orecchio sordo del mondo
ha bisogno finalmente di sentire
mentre gli altri lottano
io prego
in modo che l’odio scompaia
e fluisca l’amore
finisca la persecuzione dei diritti
ogni giorno
in queste vie così disumane
ridammi i miei diritti
di essere libero di credere
SONO FALUN GONG
......................................................................
French
Des esprits sans conscience
Des yeux innocents qui brillent comme les étoiles......
Persécutés par des langues sales
Sans connaissance du mot «humanité»
Dans leur dictionnaire
Vous vivez libre dans le mensonge
Pendant que des âmes innocentes meurent
Pour leur foi qui a existé
À travers les siècles
Alors que la douleur quotidienne me suis
Protégeant ma vie
Je suis humain comme vous
Votre vie comme la mienne
À le même souffle
Hélas, gratuitement mes frères
Tués par la perversité en vous
Pratiques barbares
Cachées des yeux du monde
Qui êtes-vous pour me dire comment vivre?
Vous devez être aveugle des vies que vous avez volées
Coeurs froids qui doivent être changés
Peut-être êtes-vous sourd
Demeurant insensible aux pleurs du mourant
Nous ne souhaitons que la liberté
Liberté
Liberté
Liberté
de croyance
de croyance
Déraciné tel une fleur
Incapable de grandir
Vous m'enlevez ma foi
Vous me créez de l'insécurité
trop triste pour en pleurer
La sourde oreille mondaine
Doit être entendue
Alors que les autres se battent
Je prie pour que la haine cesse
Et que l'amour coule à flot
Persécution des droits de l'Homme
Continuellement
Avec vos moyens inhumains
Rendez-moi mes droits
Qui me permettent d'avoir la liberté de croyance
JE SUIS FALUN GONG....
......................................................................
Romanian
EU SUNT FALUN GONG...
Spirite fara constiinta
Ochi inocenti ce stralucesc precum stelele...
Persecutati de limbi murdare
Fara cunoasterea cuvantului „umanitate”
In dictionarul lor
Voi traiti liberi in minciuna
In timp ce suflete inocente mor
Pentru credinta lor care a existat
De-a lungul secolelor
In timp ce sufar zilnic
Protejandu-mi viata
Eu sunt om ca si tine
Viata ta este ca a mea
Are aceeasi respiratie
Totusi fratii mei gratuit
Au fost ucisi de maleficul din voi
Practici barbare
Ascunse de vazul lumii
Cine sunteti voi sa imi spuneti cum sa traiesc?
Trebuie sa fiti orbi de ati luat vieti
Inimi inghetate ce trebuie schimbate
Sau poate sunteti surzi
De vreme ce nu auziti strigatul celor ce mor.
Noi nu ne dorim decat libertatea
Libertatea
Libertatea
Libertatea
De a crede
De a crede
Smuls din radacinile mele precum o floare
Incapabil sa cresc
Voi mi-ati luat credinta
Voi m-ati facut sa ma simt in nesiguranta
Prea trist pentru a plange
Urechea surda a lumii
Are nevoie sa auda
In timp ce altii lupta
Eu ma rog ca ura sa inceteze
Si dragostea sa curga
Drepturile omului persecutate
Continuu
De mijloacele voastre inumane
Redati-mi dreptul
Care imi permite sa am libertatea de credinta
EU SUNT FALUN GONG...
Afrikaans
Ek is Falun Gong
In verstande wat nie bewussyne het nie
onskuldige oe wat skyn soos sterre........
Vervolg deur gif tonge.
Hulle het nie die woord 'menslik'
in hulle woordeboek nie.
Julle leef vry, in 'n leun,
terwyl onskuldige siele sterf
vir 'n geloof
wat al dwarsdeur die eeue bestaan.
Met daaglikse smart
beskerm ek my lewe.
Ek is menslik soos jy,
jou lewe, soos myne
het dieselfde asem,
nogtans word my broers en susters
moedswillig vermoor
deur die booshede in jou.
Barbaarse Praktyke
die wereld sien dit nie, wie is jy om vir my te se
wat ek moet wees?
Wie moet blindelings kyk
na die lewens wat jy gevat het.
Koue harte, nodig om te verander
of, jou doof maak.
Al wat ons voor wens
is om vry te wees
vry,
vry,
vry
om te glo
te glo
te glo.
Ontwortel soos 'n blom
wat nie in staat is om te groei nie
wat my onveilig laat voel.
Te bedroef om 'n traan te stort.
Die wereld se dowe oor
nodig, om gehoor te word
soos andere wat veg.
Ek bid om vir die haat om op te hou
en liefde te vloei.
Mense Regte vervolg
dag in en dag uit
deur jou onmenslikhede.
Gee terug my reg
wat my in staat stel
om geestelike vryheid te beoeffen.
Ek is Falun Gong

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