~Poems by Andrea Munroe
A Psalm for Hong Kong
For the Director of Nations. On the suspension of the extradition bill. Of a Christian in Hong Kong.
1 Save our nation from hatred, LORD;
Protect our people from the tyranny of our enemies.
2 I have seen so much graffiti on our sacred walls;
I mourn the blood on our hallowed streets;
I miss the innocence of our skyward windows.
3 See what injustices lie in the hands of our police!
Look, God, upon the trajectory of our freedom.
4 Our people gather peacefully at dawn
And howl by midnight in prison without bail;
In despair, our brothers take the name of rioters.
5 The Chinese flood our government with frauds;
They upend our democracy with their puppets.
6 For twenty-three years I have waited in fear.
In twenty-seven more, they will close our mouths;
In twenty-seven years, I will not recognize myself.
7 Where will your people among this nation go?
How will we, LORD, escape their persecution?
8 From where will my help come but You, God?
The nations fear China and their trade;
The world begs for reform from someone else.
9 Forgive us, Almighty, for the violence we have caused;
Judge us by our faith and not our wrongdoings!
10 These streets cry out for your mercy;
LORD, reach out to us, your oppressed;
LORD, hear our prayer!
That book on my phone
That siren
keeping me up at night
it’s an addiction
And don’t get me started on series
because I’ll gobble one
and suffer withdrawal
until finally the next is available
but I’m on the waitlist
93 of 93
and it couldn’t be moving more slowly.
That force drawing me away
from my family
my friends
waiting for the response on a text
I’ve been on my phone this entire time
but not really…
No, I’ve been running from boys
and kissing aliens
(Wait, was that backwards?)
That title should be called senioritis
because my to-do list has been divided
into factions:
Requirements for life
and
That annoying thing called self-care,
with the first list being a to-read list
and the second, while I’m waiting
for book 7.
That book on my phone
Turning into 2 or 3
as I scroll through the library
judging books by their covers
and only clicking on one
after seeing it 17 times before
to reread a description
and decide no,
not yet for this one
I’d have to stoop down
past my current desperate
to ultra-desperate
to pick this one
(aka, I reserve it right there).
That book, never ceasing
or maybe it’s done in a few hours
but always replaced
always restocked
until all I ever do is read
Read
I’m reading my eulogy:
Ran out of experiences
Because I read them all.
Andrea Munroe is a freshman Computer Science major and Honors College student. She loves making people laugh and would rather watch the rain than do her math homework, although she often has to compromise between the two. In her spare time, she collects C.S. Lewis books and contemplates the fabric of the universe. She currently aspires to publish the book she has in the works.