Sheep Soup

The sun had set in the city.

The rays through the smog were pretty.

        We got off our bikes,

        All hungry, alike,

And set out to find us some dinny.

Everyone, tired of rice,

Wanted a Pizza Hut slice.

        But without a map,

        Our hands in our lap,

We meandered around like mice.

“There, a noisy fan dian!”,                      (fan dian – “restaurant”)

Said I, a foreign alien.

        The louder the store,

        People numbered more,

So this must be a good place to eat in.

We passed through the plastic door,

Encountering smells, galore!

        But to our surprise,

        Turned, all eyes,

On us, we were feeling quite scorned.

But alas, it was just curiosity;

We hadn’t committed atrocity.

        Americans weren’t common

        In a place without ramen,

But we strode to the counter with velocity.

None of us could read the menu

So we ordered something we knew.

        “Wo yao ji rou”,                              (Wo yao ji rou – “I would like chicken”)

        “Hao, ni gou”.                                 (Hao, ni gou – “Ok, you may buy”)

But the chicken turned out to be stew.

We looked into the black broth:

Floating tentacles in froth?!

        We asked for a waiter,

        A few seconds later,

Explain the dish, she doth.

“Yang rou tang”, she called it.             (Yang rou tang – “Sheep soup”)

Sheep soup, in my stomach a pit.

        Of a lamb, five parts:

        Lung, liver, heart,

Vein, and intestine all fit.

We looked at each other in fear.

No choice but to eat it from here.

        We all took a bite,

        Recoiled in fright,

And gulped down the rest: “persevere!”

At this point the store was hysterical;

The embarrassment was quite unbearable!

        We all laughed

        How could we be so daft?

And left the place with this parable:

When wandering Beijing at night,

With no restaurants left in sight,

        Remember this song:

        “Bu xiang yang tang”                    (Bu xiang yang tang – “I don’t want

And be confident you’ll be alright.                                                                      sheep soup”)