“The gate opened. Lord Shiva released beasts upon the winter of Nanjing, and he dances wildly through 1937, uncaring for human suffering.”

Soft soil / scattered with bones
submerges beneath the ice pillars
poured by time.

Young girls elude fresh tombs
painting their faces / with mud,
disguising themselves / as trembling men
with short-haired / accompaning the enemy’s
violent laughter / dodging the Type-38 bayonets
whirling like Shiva’s dance / hunting their wombs.

Elders wisely modify mazes / in tunnels,
emerge like pangolins / at secret communication points,
craft telegrams / into riddles.

Arms and fingers / break on the ground,
like full stops /
assimilating mottled darkness / into the weeds.
I struggle to crawl out / from the mass grave,
searching for my own breath,
searching for the only warmth / left in the soil.
Only the burst blood of the dead.

In this cruel winter,
only Shiva — the puppeteer of death / remains expressionless.

In the pit of death / what can one do?
The invading army destroys / our homes
as if carrying out an evil command.

I, as a human /
cry in this moment / wondering how to
mourn the dead.

Yucheng Tao is a Chinese poet based in Los Angeles, currently pursuing a B.A. in Songwriting at the Musicians Institute. His work has appeared in over 30 journals internationally, including Wild Court (King’s College London), NonBinary Review, Apocalypse Confidential, The Arcanist, Red Ogre Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, SHINE: International Poetry, In Parentheses, and more. He was a semifinalist for the Winds of Asia Award. His debut chapbook, titled April No Longer Comes, will be published by Alien Buddha Press in August 2025 x.com