A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/The Red Cockatoo

by Arthur Waley

THE RED COCKATOO

 
Sent as a present from Annam —
A red cockatoo.
Coloured like the peach-tree blossom,
Speaking with the speech of men.
And they did to it what is always done
To the learned and eloquent.
They took a cage with stout bars
And shut it up inside.