Poem

Yao Feng

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Original language

Bad Guys

I suspect some of them of being bad guys
but I still treat them as good guys
just as justice
before handing down sentence
presumes the innocence of all those accused
Back then bad guys
were the ones wearing baseball caps
fags dangling from their lips
On the silver screen of my childhood
they were evil incarnate
These days, I know better
I’ve cut out for good the tail of my youth
and the blind caecum of naïvety
yet doing so has only brought me more grief
Here in my own little world
I’m yet to run into any guys wearing baseball caps

© Translation: 2009, Tao Naikan and Simon Patton

BAD GUYS

© 2009, Yao Feng

Yao Feng

Yao Feng

Yao Feng, the pen-name of Yao Jingming, was born in Beijing in 1958. He studied Portuguese at university and worked as a diplomat for a time, but is now based in the former Portuguese colony of Macao. In additon to writing poetry in Chinese, he also writes in Portuguese and translates Portuguese poerty into Chinese. In 2006, he was awarded the Ordem Militar de Santiago de Espada medal by the Pr...

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Bad Guys

I suspect some of them of being bad guys
but I still treat them as good guys
just as justice
before handing down sentence
presumes the innocence of all those accused
Back then bad guys
were the ones wearing baseball caps
fags dangling from their lips
On the silver screen of my childhood
they were evil incarnate
These days, I know better
I’ve cut out for good the tail of my youth
and the blind caecum of naïvety
yet doing so has only brought me more grief
Here in my own little world
I’m yet to run into any guys wearing baseball caps

© 2009, Tao Naikan and Simon Patton

Bad Guys

I suspect some of them of being bad guys
but I still treat them as good guys
just as justice
before handing down sentence
presumes the innocence of all those accused
Back then bad guys
were the ones wearing baseball caps
fags dangling from their lips
On the silver screen of my childhood
they were evil incarnate
These days, I know better
I’ve cut out for good the tail of my youth
and the blind caecum of naïvety
yet doing so has only brought me more grief
Here in my own little world
I’m yet to run into any guys wearing baseball caps

© 2009, Tao Naikan and Simon Patton

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