What Is Good And What Is Bad by Vladimir Mayakovsky

"He's a good one, yes, indeed, the proper kind of lad!"

What Is Good And What Is Bad
by Vladimir Mayakovsky
translated by Dorian Rottenberg

One fine day
                    a tiny laddie
came
          and asked his dad:
“Could you tell me,
                               Daddy,
what is good
                     and what is bad?”
All his daddy said
                             I heard.
Children,
               gather near.
Daddy’s answer,
                           word for word,
I shall tell you
                       here.

If the wind
                 behaves like mad,
bringing hail
                    and sleet,
anybody knows
                         it’s bad —
no walking in the street.

After rainfall
                    comes the sun,
driving off the cold.
That is good
                    for everyone,
whether young
                        or old.

When
          a tiny little lad has
dirty cheeks
                    and chin,
this is clearly
                     very bad
for the youngster’s skin.

If a boy
             keeps clean and neat,
washes
             twice a day,
he’s a darling,
                       simply sweet,
a good lad,
                   anyway.

When a bully,
                      Tom or Billy,
thrashes
               weaker mates,
his behaviour’s bad and silly —
which everybody
                           hates.

This one shouts:
                          “You mustn’t touch
smaller boys
                     than you!”
I admire him
                     very much,
and so,
             I’m sure,
                            do you.

If you spoil
                  a book and toy
in
    a single day,
“That’s a baddish little boy!”
everyone will say.

This one loves
                        to work and read,
likes drawing
                      in his pad.
He’s a good one,
                            yes, indeed,
the proper kind
                         of lad!

 

This baby’s scared
                              to see a crow.
Shame
            upon the lad!
Cowardice,
                   you ought to know,
is very,
            very bad.

This one
               shoos the bird away
from a hen and chicks.
Good!
           A brave boy,
                               we can say,
though he’s hardly six.

This one
               wallows in the dirt,
giggling with joy,
soils his trousers
                           and his shirt,
bad,
        untidy boy!

This one
               cleans his shoes himself,
though
            just four years old,
puts his things
                        upon a shelf.
He’s
        as good as gold!

Remember, all who aren’t yet big:
if you’re now
                     a piggy,
you’ll become
                      a downright pig
when you grow up
                              bigger.

Sonny beamed —
                          he’d understood
and he told his dad:
“Dad,
          I’ll always
                          do what’s good
and never do
                     what’s bad!”

First published in The Bedbug and Selected Poetry by Vladimir Mayakovsky. Translated by Dorian Rottenberg.