Set 9: Mondo de Politiko

1.
The Politics of Friendship
                                         Anon (twelfth century)/China

So say you went out in a nice little gig
and I was wearing my mucky smock
and we met one day on a road somewhere:
you’d get down and bow, wouldn’t you?

So say I was riding round on Mr Pony
and you were out with a cheap brolly,
and we met one day on a road somewhere:
I’d get down and bow, wouldn’t I?


2.
The Postcard
                      Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006)/Bangladesh

Weeks have passed, and the tatty old postcard, scrawled on the back,
is still in the pocket of his shirt: where this young fellow goes,
the postcard goes too. The spelling is all wrong, and who knows
what some of it means, but it rests
...