Every single day – the media reports
That someone well-known had died –
Movie stars –
Athletes –
Scientists –
Scums –
Or any number of sorts of people –
Half of whom aren’t even really well-known
Personally –
I don’t care to know about many of these deaths –
Most of them are neither worthy
Nor deserving of my sympathy –
Or – for that matter –
Any sentiment from the majority of the world
So unless the deceased is someone
Really of prominence –
Or significance –
To the world or to our society –
I plead with the media
Please!
Don’t cry wolf regularly with those obituaries
Because when someone really important
Then passes away –
Few will notice and pay attention –
And it will only seem like another ordinary day –
Which would be – both –
A great shame and a great disrespect –
To the deceased
08.14.95 – 09.27.95
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Copyright by Minh Tan on listed dated of completion
and published in Perspectives, ISBN 0-9686250-0-2.
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Notes to this poem…
I wrote this poem in 1995, foreseeing something that would ultimately happen and sure enough, annotating this poem in 2008, all I can say is “ain’t that the truth”?
What’s worse is the wars going on where we are winning so much we only lose a soldier here or there and fly flags at half mast for each of them. What are we going to do when we get a war where we’d lose people like in the world wars? No offense intended to the soldiers who die for our freedom but death is a part of war and this habit of flying flags at half mast for each dead soldier just causes depression. If we continue to do this, why we just cut the flag poles in half and fly them at full shortened mast? Flying flag at half mast everyday doesn’t really make anybody stand out so the honour is really meaningless.
Minh Tan's Old Poetry 