Ode To Beijing

City of a hundred million lights

A daily explosion of culture, growth, and people

Spilling onto the streets and alleyways

Amongst the bicycles, pedicabs, peddlers, and pedestrians

Vendors, fruit stands, shopkeepers, and hawkers of all kinds.

Around the globe people come

Willing to explore the wild, rough, and unready.

Modernity in Beijing has surely asserted itself

Capitalism and industry have come to the fore

As it turns out, free markets are a gift

And machinery is the machinery for change

How can you argue with the ending of poverty

Just don’t worship the money and the glitz

Stay rooted in your deep Chinese roots

You have lived a long time, and you know this.