Fool's Mountain: Blogging for China

This poem comes from an editor at Taiwan’s China Post.

My dearest Daddy and Mommy:

I’m sorry! Today, I won’t be home on time.

The sky is already getting dark outside, but along with my classmates, we’re still in the classroom,
but the classroom, I don’t know why, is lying on our body.
I don’t like that the classroom is treating us like pillows, like beds, like bedding,
I want to say to the classroom,
I want to sleep too, I’m so tired,
Have you slept enough yet classroom? Can you get up and let me go home?
I so want to go home……

Dearest daddy and mommy,
I hear so many voices crying outside,
Why are they crying?
Is it like that time with Chun Chun,
He always loved that little yellow dog at home,
And last time when little yellow disappeared,
Chun Chun cried with such pain,
The crying sounds outside,
Is it because they lost something they love?
Is it something they lost in our classroom?
We can help and look,
I’m the best little detective,
Mommy, you know I’m the best, right?

Why didn’t we turn on the lights?
It’s so dark, mommy,
I was really scared at first,
Because Chun Chun and I ran around in the classroom,
We were playing Supermen Attacking Earth,
I won, and I slapped the wall with my hand,
And the classroom started to shake,
I really didn’t mean to knock the wall down, or damage the floor with my stomping,
The lights all fell down from the ceiling and now can’t be lit,
I’m so afraid the teacher will blame me.

Mommy,
If the teacher wants me to pay, what do I do?
I promise not to do it again,
I’ll be good,
I’ll never run around in the classroom again,
Will you forgive me?

Why hasn’t daddy picked me up yet?
Is it because it’s too dark, and he can’t find me here?
I don’t like being the last baby to go home,
Did daddy forget me?
That’s okay,
It’s a good thing I have so many classmates with me,
Why did all of the mommies and daddies,
All forget to pick us up today?
We all don’t understand,
Why daddy and mommy all of a sudden don’t want us any more…

Please don’t make me wait any longer,
I’ll be good, I won’t make you angry,
And I want to use my superman hands,
And hug you with all of my strength,
That way you won’t forget,
That your baby is still here.

I’m a little sleepy,
I’m going to take a nap,
If daddy and mommy come,
Don’t wake me,
Please, just like when I was little,
Hug me warmly and softly,
Let me lie in front of your warm chest,
Take. Me. Home……….

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A story from MITBBS…

http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/Military/31249744.html

When the rescuers found her, she was already dead, crushed by a collapsed house. Looking through the gaps of the rubble, you could see the way she was posed at death: kneeling on both knees, her upper torso bent forward, her hands used to support her weight… her body had been crushed out of shape. Rescuers reached through a gap in the rubble and confirmed she was already dead, and called into the darkness, but there was no response. Just as they walked on to the next structure, the rescue team lead ran backwards, calling “follow me” as he ran.

As he ran to her corpse, he pushed his hands underneath her body and searched. He felt around and called out: “there’s someone here, a baby, still alive!”

When the doctor opened the blanket still covering the 3-4 month old baby, he found a cell phone. Instinctively he looked at the screen, and found a short message already written. “My dearest baby, if you can survive, you have to remember that I love you”.