The Scene Before Me

(translated from the Chinese by Simon Patton & Tao Naikan)

One evening during the Spring Festival
after some friends and I had eaten and drunk
to our heart’s content at a hot-pot restaurant
we moved on to a café
Along the way
smack in the middle of a slow traffic lane
we came across a legless beggar sitting on the ground
talking to someone on his mobile phone
He shouted as if there were no one else around
You could hear that he was wishing someone a Happy New Year
‘I’m sure he’s making a long-distance call
to a beggar in another province’
‘Maybe it’s an international call
to a beggar overseas’
I’m sorry! I apologise for the way
my friends and I shot our mouths off like that
It’s not that we’re heartless or numb in our feelings
No, we’re not prejudiced, contemptuous or
trying to offend
It was a way to hide our shock
Really, we just didn’t have time
when confronted with a scene of this type
to equip ourselves with the appropriate feelings

- Yi Sha