Terra incognita

China is in the news a lot
These days;
It was not always thus;
Not long ago
The only Chinese faces
You were likely to see
Were the workers at
Your local Chinese restaurant;
They kept themselves to
Themselves in close knit
Family groups
Hard working
Never in trouble
With the police
Never appearing on
Match of the Day
Unlike other immigrants;
"Made in China"
Was equivalent to
Cheap and cheerful;
The horrors of Mao's
Revolution barely registered
On European minds;
No telly journalism
Recorded the massacres
And famines inflicted
On the Central Kingdom
By the shabby monster
In Peking;
Today the slaughter
Continues;
Tibetans are abused
Tortured and murdered
By the appalling
Regime in what we
Must call "Bay Jing";
Unfortunately most people
In this country
Are unable to name
One Tibetan apart from
The Dalai Lama
That jolly holy man;
He is well spiritual
And not obsessed
With how many
Percent the Tibetan
Economy is growing
Or shrinking
This quarter;
How can you
Quantify the benefits
Conferred by spinning
The prayer wheel
Or creating a mandala ?

One of the many
Spiritual Guardians
Of Tibet is Jambhala;
वैश्रवण in Sanskrit;
Seated on a Snow Lion
And clutching a mongoose
Which spits Jewels
He conveys blessings
To eliminate poverty

Does it work ?
Perhaps the faithful
Find that a Playstation
Or high-end trainers
Manifest in their
Himalayan hutments

Perhaps the poverty
Which is alleviated
Is more spiritual
Than material
But you
Never
Know
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