They Came

by Yucheng Tao

Previously published in Cathexis Northwest Press

Tuol Sleng
like a poisonous flower
exhaling
a piercing venom.
The palm trees swayed
beneath the faltering shadow,
a procession of bones

—the dead—
labeled as intellectuals.
They came
like a gust of wind,
They came
like a herd of wild beasts.
They came
slaughter upon slaughter,
cursing Tuol Sleng,
damning its streets and rivers.
They regarded themselves as fanatical idealists,
But never, made the place a paradise.
Passion torched it into a fiery hell.
They came
with frantic lusts.
They came to Cambodia—
its flesh drenched in rouge.
When Tuol Sleng opened,
Moonlight buried people
in a sunken pit of earth.
None to cry those words:
“ They came!”

Yucheng Tao is a Chinese international student based in Los Angeles, where he studies songwriting. His work and has appeared in Wild Court (UK), The Lake (UK), Red Ogre Review (UK), Aloka Magazine (UK), Cathexis Northwest Press, and NonBinary Review, where he was also interviewed. He was named a semifinalist for the Winds of Asia Award by Kinsman Quarterly.

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