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Fed Suffering
The True Story of Dai Mingrong
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Not merely stale today, her bowl of rice
Now tastes like bitter dust. Then, all’s ablur.
Her grip grows shaky while her fingers curl…
Condemned to suffer, paying virtue’s price:
Bad roll! On Mao’s pernicious, weighted dice.
The floor receives the whole day’s meal and her—
By spasms felled. Guards grin: Their souls don’t stir
One bit—her pain just stirs their smirking vice.
Deep down, her heart’s still held in faith’s embrace,
Though thoughts no more can grasp its guiding light.
So fades the memory of that tear-filled morn
Her ailing family lost her caring grace.
They send her shell-like form back home and smite
Her dear ones twice. And thus the nation’s torn.
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Daniel Magdalen is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Bucharest, in Romania.
Well-written and rhymed, this poem disturbs and saddens the soul!
Thank you for your being so authentic in your kind response, which I actually appreciate.
Daniel, this is an admirable sonnet from many artistic perspectives, while it successfully recounts an individual story of international importance. You rely on a succession of fast-paced images to convey a great deal of information and emotion. The title, “Fed Suffering,” speaks of suffering as the food given Dai Mingrong, her family, and (in the final line) her nation. It also ushers in the first image of stale then bitter rice, from which the poem goes on to quick spasms of inflicted torment. It is clear that Dai dies in this narrative, although it’s impossible to say where among the lines. Perhaps at line 10, though that could be a report of death already occurred, or of a living brain injured to the point where it is no longer able to form ideas. The indistinctness suits the gloom of the event. The poem makes good use of sound in choice of the Petrarchan sonnet form (with fewer rhyme sounds and therefore more rhyme words), as well as in alliteration, and internal repetition of rhyme sounds. Not an enjoyable tale, but a most effective telling.
I always appreciate your thoughtful, supportive and insightful comments and analyses which you kindly share with regard to my poems. Thank you!
Your powerful poem pierces the heart. How long will it be before the Judeo-Christian world realizes that in this battle between good and evil they are next?
I do find inspiration in powerful life narratives such as this, which I based my poem on. It is regrettable that many people haven’t seen yet how this battle between good and evil, one which you can clearly perceive, can actually affect them. Given the inherent good nature of the Judeo-Christian values, one can be hopeful that they will naturally choose and support the good. Thank you.
Thank you for writing this, Daniel. I’ve read quite a few different accounts of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Some I’ve heard in person from those who experienced it. The method of torture and harassment vary greatly. I wonder how you selected this one in particular.
Thank YOU, Evan for publishing the sort of text, which I have started to write, like the previous ones, only after reading and getting inspiration from the poems on the topic of the persecution published on the Society of Classical Poets website in the past. Indeed, I have also read various human rights investigative reports, including ones written by Nobel Peace Prize nominees David Matas and David Kilgour, after having been informed by people raising awareness on the persecution in China. Given that such life-stories have had quite an impact on me, just like stories from the Holocaust and from other large-scale abuses of innocent people, I have felt it’s good to express the given case studies, analyzed in the reports, in my own words, and as I personally felt them. As for this story, in particular, it somehow naturally stirred deep compassion inside my heart, and I wanted to express my understanding and perception of that saddening personal experience I had read about.
Daniel, this heart-wrenching sonnet is haunting. “Guards grin: Their souls don’t stir/One bit—her pain just stirs their smirking vice” is particularly disturbing in an age when demonizing people not belonging to the “protected” class is considered normal. I am in full agreement with Sally. We are in the midst of a battle between good and evil. The dragon is creeping ever closer to our shores and doors.
Thank you for bringing Dai Mingrong’s story to our attention… the truth matters, and we need to tell it.
Thank you for your insight and your kind comments. Indeed, it is a good thing that you also feel this need to tell the truth when you know it. It is especially relevant if such truths (in the form of the haunting and heart-wrenching life stories like the one which inspired my text) can truly touch people’s hearts and naturally rekindle their compassion for other human beings. I appreciate your being supportive of this.
Although this is a very painful poem to read, Daniel, I’m very glad you wrote it. A spotlight needs to be constantly placed upon the C.C.P.’s lack of anything approaching human compassion. Your description of the mocking cruelty of the guards particularly struck me. “Guards grin: Their souls don’t stir/One bit—her pain just stirs their smirking vice.”
Thank you for your authentic and supportive comment. Indeed, as you can easily see the painful consequences of cruelty in the world, it can be really shocking and disturbing to witness how some individuals even mock the gut-wrenching suffering of their own victims. This left in me an indelible impression, which I wanted to express in my own way, after reading numerous accounts which brought to light such sadistic acts that are taking place in the world.
If this is what the Chinese do to their own, just imagine what they would do to us. You will get a taste of this if you watch Man in the High Castle, though the brutes in that series were Japanese Nazi allies.
It may be easy, but also soul-stirring, to truly imagine such sadistic plans (like the ones described in the human rights reports which texts like the above are based on) taking place in our own societies. I appreciate your comment.