Keep Shooting

By Damian Robin

The P.L.A. manoeuvres threats close by,

Shadow boxing in the public eye.

Across the river – Hope behind a mask,

Tear bombs muffled in a metal flask*. 

Dark Party poison oils your Hong Kong home:

Sin’s molasses squeezed through honeycomb.

They want your infrastructure swamped by clans

Not democracy’s cool-headed fans.

They’d strap your water flow and gag your throat;

They’d make ‘The China Sea’ their castle moat;

They’d drain you dry, they’d dam your food supply –

If only friends with lenses weren’t close by.

Automaton police in bulbous clothes,

Bludgeon truncheons up through Hong Kong’s nose.

Umbrellas liquidate the lethal dose

For there are friends with lenses standing close.