Luis H. Francia, "牆"－蔗尾蜂房

牆
--Luis H. Francia，羅浩原譯

我懂法律
法律最擅造牆

容許的佔一小間
不容許的佈滿了巨大的迷宮

我懂
政府基金
是怎樣分配的
如一坨坨臭爛
肉分給餓漢

我很清楚那光滑的
法律之牆
很難被看清楚

但我往往還是一頭撞了上去

我很清楚法律如何隱藏事實
辦法就是對我說
我這人好極了
好個菲律賓弟兄
（不，你絕非我兄弟）
但事實截然
相反

我對法律有幾稜幾面
非常清楚
知道當你企圖
攀越它時
會發現你早已
跌落更深

更甚以往

Walls
--Luis H. Francia

I know about laws
how well they set up walls

Do's in a small room
Don'ts in a labyrinth of huge halls

I know about
official trust
how they apportion it
Like chunks of bad
meat for the hungry

I know all about the smooth
wall in the law
difficult to see

but I keep bumping
against it

how it hides what’s true
By telling me I’m a
swell fella
Filipino brother
(no you’re no brother at all)
but it’s the other way
around

I know its surfaces
very well
How when you try to
climb it you
find you’ve
fallen farther

than before

Rajini Srikanth & ‎Esther Yae Iwanaga, ed., Bold Words: A Century of Asian American Writing, Rutgers University Press, 2001, p.119.