How Little Has Changed

I’m reading poetry from China,

first century BC,

and thinking ‘how little has changed’.

And now I see a video of a white policeman

murdering a black man,

and I’m thinking ‘how little has changed’.

Now I see a man,

white and powerful, using this to gain advantage

and I think ‘how little has changed’.

And I wonder how so little has changed:

that, even now, an autocrat may gain the favour of citizens

while fellow citizens die.