Young people of China and Japan

Young people of China and Japan

You do not need to hate each other

To satisfy your ancestors’ ghosts

You were not obliged to destroy Nanking then

Just as you are not obliged now

To destroy your workplaces and cars in Xia

There was no need then

Of ‘No Chinese or dogs allowed’ signs in Hong Kong parks

There is no need now

Of ‘Islands belong to China. Temporarily not serving Japanese people’

Signs on Canadian karaoke parlors

You learned the hard way in 1945

That making some men gods above others

Makes life as fleeting as cherry blossoms

You do not need to learn again

That putting The State above your humanity

Makes men less than animals

There is no need to assert

That islands are connected to China

Through Taiwan undersea

Or to Japan

Through years of ownership and settlement

When the entire world is connected

Each shore to shore

Each nation to nation

Every person to person