The Frontiersboy (1963)
(A Wronged Warrior’s Soliloquy)
Feng Xuefeng

The old frontiersman got a godsend—in
A herd of first-rate thousand-li-race steeds;
His boy, ecstatic, kept on galloping
On one or another in riding sprees.
But, erstwhile lax his horsemanship to spreen
Up, soon he was thrown off horseback, and so
In the end lost a limb. E’er since, he’s been
Excluded from the ranks of heroes—O,
Forever left to rue, and wistfully
To watch the great commander’s flag to go by.
If warriors are not on the field to die,
Then whatever’s said of gain or loss would be
All sheer self-deception and a lie!