Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
CalligraphyFlorence Ayscough and Amy Lowell, trans.
From “Chinese Written Wall Pictures”
Liang T’ung-shu—Eighteenth Century
Liang T’ung-shu—Eighteenth Century
T
Is like the vermilion bird
And the blue-green dragon.
It drifts slowly as clouds drift;
It has the wide swiftness of wind.
Hidden within it lurk the dragon and the tiger.
Is like the high hat of ceremonial.
It flashes like flowers in the hair,
And its music is the faint, sweet tinkling
Of jade girdle-pendants.
But I stand beside the Lang Temple,
Doing nothing
And speaking not at all.