They remained at the massive arch. When the drum beat twenty four and the people’s red ,the royal gold and bewildered purple spill over the evening sky. Listening to the Hutong sighs In the cold winter breeze. They heard sighs of mothers’ thinking of ways to feed their children crying of hunger .
They watched a lone horseman rides through,with the freshest lychees for his emperor. The empress and his concubines. wanted to see what happens in empirical hall , in the red hue of lanterns .
Yet they could not go beyond the arch .
For Ghosts have no knees
You see
Beyond high step
They could not proceed
At gate of harmony
They remain
But
then again
ghosts seldom travel on their feet
For they go
in people’s heads
They saw the republic army with their guns & bayonets march through the gates and ousted an emperor and free the eunuchs . On they went marching , the eunuchs , holding in their hands in porcelain flasks , their right to be buried as complete men.
They wanted to see the empty throne room, and where the concubines slept. Yet …They could not go beyond the arch
For Ghosts have no knees
You see
Beyond high step
They could not proceed
At gate of harmony
They remain
But
then again
ghosts seldom travel on their feet
For they go
in people’s heads
They saw the red ants with their little red books. Marching to the tune of an accordion , singing songs of a revolution. Singing of the days when the everybody would be equal and they went marching in to the city forbidden . They wanted so much to join the crowd . Yet
For Ghosts have no knees
You see
Beyond high step
They could not proceed
At gate of harmony
They remain
But
then again
ghosts seldom travel on their feet
For they go
in people’s heads
Another dusk is greeted in Beijing , by the flickering neon sign post spelling out Microsoft.. Under the amber hue of street lights , short skirts and naughty advances dot the street. The Square is almost empty , the tourists have gone back . The lone solder stands guard at the foot of the flag pole , yet the yellow stars on red have been folded till dawn. Still it is a beautiful starry night . The Forbidden city seems like in the old days , the tourists who bought a 15Yuan ticket and travelled through the arches are no more. The familiar serenity prevails within the walls.
Ghosts … are nothing but tears ,sighs and weeps of pain , people shed through the times , which has taken a form , a shape , an existence ….Ghosts .still gather at the arch , out of habit …Ghosts of Peking, ghost of Beijing and even ghosts of today’s BJ.
