The Black Flower

by Marly Youmans

Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, died on November 11, 2004.

 

1.

Sick to Death

At dead of night she woke, unmoved
   By the crickets, moon, and stars;
From old they sang or shone above
   The fire and rape of wars.

Then pity was a crumpled child,
   Kindness a battered womb,
And all the world one genocide,
   The grave her living room.

2.

Iris

The iris by my walk is bold,
   Its purples almost black,
And stems and petals always bleed
   Before the sheathings crack.

She took her life to lift the veil
   Of grief–and still, I’ll bet
That most will never remember
   What Iris could not forget.