User:SnowyCinema/P/Fox Footprints

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pub=Knopf
au=Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth
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-ha

{{ph|class=half|Fox Footprints}}

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{{c|{{uc|''New Borzoi Poetry<br />Spring 1923''}}
{{dhr}}
{{sb|
{{uc|[[Poems (Blunt)|Poems]]}} ''by [[Author:Wilfrid Scawen Blunt|Wilfrid Scawen Blunt]]''

{{uc|[[Finders (Weaver)|Finders]]}} ''by [[Author:John V. A. Weaver|John V. A. Weaver]]''

{{uc|[[Golden Bird (Oppenheim)|Golden Bird]]}} ''by [[Author:James Oppenheim|James Oppenheim]]''

{{uc|[[April Twilights]]}} ''by [[Author:Willa Cather|Willa Cather]]''

{{uc|Fox Footprints}} ''by [[Author:Elizabeth J. Coatsworth|Elizabeth J. Coatsworth]]''
}}
}}

-ti

{{c|{{xx-larger|{{uc|Fox Footprints}}}}<br />{{uc|[[Author:Elizabeth J. Coatsworth|Elizabeth J. Coatsworth]]}}
{{dhr|10}}
[[File:AHSCP, cover picture.jpg|75px|center]]
{{asc|New York}}{{gap}}{{uc|Alfred · A · Knopf}}{{gap}}{{asc|MCMXXIII}}
}}

-col

{{c|{{sb|{{asc|Copyright, 1923, by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.}}<br />
''Published, March 1923''
{{dhr|10}}
''Set up and printed by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton, N. Y.<br />Paper furnished by W. F. Etherington & Co., New York.<br />Bound by H. Wolff Estate, New York.''
{{dhr|3}}
{{asc|Manufactured in the United States of America}}
}}}}

-ded

{{c|{{sb|''To''<br />I. R. ''and'' M. R. C. S.<br />''in memory of our year in Asia''}}}}

—

-ack

{{bc|For permission to reprint certain of the poems in this volume thanks are due ''Contemporary Verse,'' ''The Century,'' ''The Dial,'' ''Harper's Magazine,'' ''The Liberator,'' ''The New East'' (''Tokyo''), ''Poetry'' (''Chicago''), ''Youth,'' and ''Asia,'' in whose pages many of them first appeared.}}

—

-toc

{{c|{{larger|{{uc|Contents}}}}}}
{{TOC begin}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||[[Fox Footprints/Enough of intersecting city streets|Enough of intersecting city streets]]|}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{uc|[[Fox Footprints/Moon Over Japan (part)|Moon Over Japan]]}}|}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Moon Over Japan|Moon Over Japan]]|3}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Daibutsu|Daibutsu]]|4}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Nikko|Nikko]]|5}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Fuji|Fuji]]|6}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Lacquer|Lacquer]]|7}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Sails|Sails]]|8}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/At the Bridge-of-heaven|At the Bridge-of-heaven]]|9}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Code|Code]]|10}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Tears in the Night|Tears in the Night]]|11}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Courtesan Arranging Her Coiffure|Courtesan Arranging Her Coiffure]]|12}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/May|May]]|13}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/At Dusk a Fox|At Dusk a Fox]]|14}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Legend|Legend]]|15}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The Inviolable|The Inviolable]]|16}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Garden God|Garden God]]|17}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/A Child|A Child]]|18}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Samurai Woman|Samurai Woman]]|19}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Bewitched|Bewitched]]|20}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Mid-winter|Mid-winter]]|21}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Reminiscence|Reminiscence]]|22}}

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{{TOC end}}
//foot/

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//head/

{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}Scenes From the Makura no Shoshi and the Geni Monogatari|24}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/From the Pillow Sketches|From the Pillow Sketches]]|24}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/Court Ceremony|Court Ceremony]]|26}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/The Forgotten Lover|The Forgotten Lover]]|27}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Japan|Japan]]|28}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{uc|[[Fox Footprints/Moon Over China (part)|Moon Over China]]}}|}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Moon Over China|Moon Over China]]|33}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Early Dusk|Early Dusk]]|34}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Spring|Spring]]|35}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Prayer|Prayer]]|36}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/From the Pavilion|From the Pavilion]]|37}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Loneliness|Loneliness]]|38}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Tribute|Tribute]]|39}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Deserted|Deserted]]|40}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/By the Canal|By the Canal]]|41}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Ghouls|Ghouls]]|42}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Marsh Chase|Marsh Chase]]|43}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Release|Release]]|44}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The Mountains|The Mountains]]|45}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The Great Wall|The Great Wall]]|46}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Exile|Exile]]|47}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Iris From Chinese Bulbs|Iris From Chinese Bulbs]]|}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/Autumn|Autumn]]|51}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/Peony|Peony]]|52}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/Fox Grave|Fox Grave]]|53}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/Flattery|Flattery]]|54}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/The Lover|The Lover]]|55}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/The Tomb of Flowers|The Tomb of Flowers]]|56}}

/foot//
{{TOC end}}
//foot/

-toc

/head//
{{TOC begin}}
//head/

{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/Festival|Festival]]|57}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}[[Fox Footprints/Love Tower|Love Tower]]|58}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The Waves|The Waves]]|59}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/China|China]]|60}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{uc|[[Fox Footprints/Moon Over the Tropics (part)|Moon Over the Tropics]]}}|}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Moon Over the Tropics|Moon Over the Tropics]]|63}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The South Seas Islands|The South Seas Islands]]|64}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Les Seins aux Fleurs Rouges|Les Seins aux Fleurs Rouges]]|65}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Apparition|Apparition]]|66}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The Coolie Ship|The Coolie Ship]]|67}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Under the Sandalwood Tree|Under the Sandalwood Tree]]|68}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The Sacred Pastoral of Brindaban|The Sacred Pastoral of Brindāban]]|69}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}Cow-Dust|69}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}Secret Meeting|70}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}Jealousy|70}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}Longing|71}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap|4em}}Content|71}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Adventure|Adventure]]|72}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Java|Java]]|73}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/In Siamese Waters|In Siamese Waters]]|74}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/The Oxen|The Oxen]]|75}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Chang Wat|Chang Wat]]|76}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||{{gap}}[[Fox Footprints/Bali|Bali]]|77}}
{{TOC row 1-1-1||[[Fox Footprints/I have seen lovely sights in far-off places|I have seen lovely sights in far-off places]]|}}
{{TOC end}}

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-ha

{{ph|class=half|Fox Footprints}}

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-po

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Enough}} of intersecting city streets
And blank bare houses like a cabbage row—
Right now along white beaches that I know/begin/
The colored sea antiphonally beats,
And Chinese gods from their old golden seats
Look down on kneeling worshippers below,
Fuji's great brows are filleted with snow,
And in deep harbors flock the fishing fleets.

Am I bewitched? for in some way it seems
That memories are more real than present times.
I wander down the crowded streets of dreams
And listen to long-silenced temple chimes,
And Time and Distance which oppressed my heart
Seem now but curtains I may draw apart.
}}

—

-1

{{ph|class=chapter|Moon Over Japan}}

—2

-3

{{ph|class=chapter|Moon Over Japan}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Moon}} over Japan
White butterfly moon. . . .
The waters wash against the sacred islands
Where steps lead down to the sea,
Where neither death nor birth is permitted,
Where the heavy-lidded Buddhas dream
To the sound of the cuckoos' call.
The whitened mists lie adrift among the pine trees
And steal the color from the bright-leaved maples
On the mountains where the deer pasture and the monkeys sleep among the branches;
And in the villages
The houses are powdered with mother-of-pearl
And the white wings of moon butterflies
Flicker down the streets
Brushing into darkness the useless round lanterns in the hands of girls.
}}

-4

{{ph|class=chapter|Daibutsu}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|In}} the spring
As a blossom
Wind carried
From the peach tree
I strike
Buddha's cheek. Slowly eddying
To the hollow
Of his hand
I lie spent.
}}

-5

{{ph|class=chapter|Nikko}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Is}} it because of the stitches of the rain
That the hills and all the trees
Seem embroidered upon cloth?
}}

-6

{{ph|class=chapter|Fuji}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Like}} an empress shielding her face with her sleeve,
Fuji stands, cloud-hid, her trailing robes
Wide spread about her:
To the left and right
The courtier mountains bow low at her feet.
}}

-7

{{ph|class=chapter|Lacquer}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} persimmons hang
Like elfin lanterns
Thousands on thousands
On the twisting boughs.
Bright are they in the sunset
Taunting the weary autumn moon.
}}

-8

{{ph|class=chapter|Sails}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} river with its sails is a strip of blue silk
On which moths have lighted
And cling, tilting.
}}

-9

{{ph|class=chapter|At the Bridge-of-heaven}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Slantwise}} along the shore
:The low waves break—
:Sharp is the sound
Like a quickly opened fan.
}}

-10

{{ph|class=chapter|Code}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|She}} was a samurai woman.

When she walked in his garden she looked like an iris in the midst of leaves, a banner among swords.
Her voice singing to the koto was like the wind in a bamboo grove.
Their love was the love of phoenixes.
When he girded on his two swords dedicated to a hopeless cause
She went alone to pray before the tablets of the ancestors—
Her dead face that speeded him to death was as serene as the face of the goddess Kwannon.

She was a samurai woman.
}}

-11

{{ph|class=chapter|Tears in the Night}}

{{ph|class=chapter-subtitle|Utamaro}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
:{{sc|It}} is dusk,
:Her lover is raising the great paper umbrella
:Against the coming rain.
:Her mouth is like a scarlet maple leaf
:On snow.
:Her hair is a cascade of black silk.
Why then should she weep with her face turned away?
}}

-12

{{ph|class=chapter|Courtesan Arranging Her Coiffure}}

{{ph|class=chapter-subtitle|Kwaigetsudo}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Her}} face is a moon
Above swirls of clouds.
Her arms are lifted over her head.
She is crowning herself with the black lacquer of her hair.
}}

-13

{{ph|class=chapter|May}}
{{ph|class=chapter-subtitle|Adapted From the Japanese}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|In}} the morning I heard the song of a frog turned silent
By a petal dropped on his mouth from the cherry trees.

At noon there was sun and stillness and cloudless sky
And the breath from the butterflies' wings was the only breeze.

At sunset the crows sat sombrely cawing aloud
Watching the sun go in scarlet flame from their sight,

And the ghosts of foxes played lightly under the moon
Where my narcissus beds shone like frost in the night.
}}

-14

{{ph|class=chapter|At Dusk a Fox}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|At}} dusk a fox had run across his path
And disappeared with smiling wicked eyes,
It was so dark he scarce could feel his way
Though all the fields were filled with fire-flies,
And every tree it seemed was murmuring
Among its leaves the words of an old song:
{{fqm}}At fifteen even a devil's a thistle-bloom"—
The rustling followed as he went along.

Then in the darkness something brushed his sleeve,
Faint hands reached out to touch him in the gloom,
Her words were like the bright quick fire-flies—
{{fqm}}At fifteen even a devil's a thistle-bloom!"
}}

-15

{{ph|class=chapter|Legend}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|It}} is not the wind in the young leaves,
It is not the stream whispering in the darkness,
But the mats are stirred by dancing feet
And the air moves with the lisp of brocade.
The lanterns are lit in the lonely room
And the incense is fragrant on the shelf of the Buddha.
Outside the blue snow covers the mountains
And the hydrangea bushes rap against the shoji like weary ghosts—

But within there is only a girl dancing before the tablet of her lover
That his spirit may still take its pleasure in her beauty.
}}

-16

{{ph|class=chapter|The Inviolable}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Sunlight}} and shadow on the polished floor
Thrown by the bamboo curtains at the door.
Quiet brown dusk elsewhere folding close
The faint gold pillars, lacquered offering-stands,
The lotuses and incense, and above,
Amida Buddha with symbolic hands.
His head is weary with its orbèd thought
Beginningless and endless as the tide.
Woman, pray not upon the polished floor—
What can it mean to him a child has died?
Gladness and sorrow are but light and shade
The bamboo curtains at his door have made.
}}

-17

{{ph|class=chapter|Garden God}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Lo}}, I have brought
An ear of rice
And a spray of berries
To place before the god
At our rice field's corner.
}}

-18

{{ph|class=chapter|A Child}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|She}} stands
Her brilliant robes
Caught round her waist—
A hollyhock,
Brown legs for stamens.
}}

-19

{{ph|class=chapter|Samurai Woman}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|I am}} but a mirror
Having no virtue in myself,
But it is my pride that he whom I reflect is distinguished.
}}

-20

{{ph|class=chapter|Bewitched}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|He}} is fox-bewitched! he is fox-bewitched!
Running and stumbling among the trees!
A band of blood flows across the sky
The brambles catch at his weakening knees!
There in the hollow the fire-flies swarm,
Fires of torment to burn and sear!
Padding unheard on his crashing flight
Ten thousand foxes follow near!

Here is his home he thinks, hope grows
As he flees to the doors that show so dark—
But the whispering woods draw near to see
Him tear his hands on an old tree's bark
And the pool of blood across the sky
Dies out to a night owl's choking cry.
}}

-21

{{ph|class=chapter|Mid-winter}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} sky is white,
The earth is white,
There is snow on the head of the wayside Jizo
And icicles hang from his chin and his cold stone hands.
All day the out-cast crows croak hoarsely across the whiteness
Until with night their misshapen forms and voices are lost in the darkness.
}}

-22

{{ph|class=chapter|Reminiscence}}
{{anchor|Section I}}{{ph|class=section|I}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|end=follow|
{{sc|It}} is a holiday, and shall be casually used
As fits its dignity.
I will wander among Japanese silks
Piled here beside me on the window-seat,
Stray squares of fancy
Sold in the low close-packed Kyoto streets.
Here are ultramarine rivers
With long skeins of foam
On which float boats laden with flowers;
Here are symbols
On gamboge—pine, bamboo, heron and tortoise
Auguring an old age or a happy married life;
And there a flock of fat-cheeked flying sparrows
In browns and grays and dullest granite-blues
Flood a whole square of mauve and violet—
The soft silk almost flutters with their wings;
And next come fancies to entice a child:
The black hare of the moon, pounding elixir,
The jewelled orange crow that nests in the sun,
And then my favorite, three round parasol-tops
}}

-23

{{ppoem|class=poem|start=follow|
Jostling together while brocaded leaves
Float down upon them—there is the whole scene—
The pith of autumn! scarlet wizardry
Soft-tapping on the dull brown parasols
Which hide invisible bright faces. . . .
Idly I turn the squares
Each one the marrow of some delicate mood.
}}

-24

{{c|{{larger|{{uc|Scenes From the Makura no Shoshi and the Geni Monogatari.}}—Two of the Classics of Japan written by Ladies of the court in the early eleventh century.}}}}

''From the prose of [[Author:W. G. Aston|W. G. Aston]] and [[Author:Suyematz Kenchio|Suyematz Kenchio]]''

{{ph|class=chapter|From the Pillow Sketches}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|end=follow|
{{anchor|Section I}}{{ph|class=section|I}}
{{sc|Through}} the open door of the Mikado's apartments we could see the pictures of the sea-creatures,
Some long-armed and some with long legs.
We laughed about them as we set the great flower-pots of green porcelain by the balustrade of the verandah,
Filling them with five-foot cherry-branches, whose blossoms over-flowed to the edge of the railing.
The brother of the empress drew near, in a cherry-colored tunic,
His trousers were purple and his undergarments patterned in deep crimson:
He sat before the door and made report to the emperor.
In front of the screen stood the waiting women.
}}

-25

{{ppoem|class=poem|start=follow|
Their jackets were sleeveless and the color of cherries,
Some were dressed in wistaria and some in kerria.
It was the serene noon-time.
In my heart I wished that so it might continue for a thousand years.
Alas.
{{anchor|Section II}}{{ph|class=section|II}}
A delightful animal is the Cat-in-Waiting on the Mikado.
She is a favorite with His Highness and has many titles:
He has conferred upon her the fifth rank of nobility,
And has ordered her called Miyobu-no-Otodo,
Chief Superintendent of the Female Attendants of the Palace.
For all that, she ''will'' go out on the bridge and sleep in full view in the sunlight,
However loudly the attendant in charge of her may call:
{{fqm}}Oh, improper! Come in at once!"
}}

-26

{{ph|class=chapter|From the Geni Monogatari}}

{{ph|class=chapter|Court Ceremony}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|So}} fair was he with the Chinese topknot
Drawn boyishly from his forehead
That the official who was to rearrange his hair
Trembled and hesitated,
While the Emperor, his father, remembering the lady who had died broken-hearted,
Thought "Ah, if she could but have seen him at this moment!"

When he had been crowned he arrayed himself in the full robes of manhood,
And danced before the court a measured step to express his gratitude,
While trays of fruit and delicacies were distributed by imperial order.
}}

-27

{{ph|class=chapter|The Forgotten Lover}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} night was cold, and so dreary that my thoughts turned towards the lady with whom I had quarrelled.
Hesitating, I went to her house, shaking the snow from my shoulders.
The curtains had not been drawn and there was a dim lamp burning.
Traced on the window I could see the maids warming a quilt by the fire—
But she, whom I loved, was not there,
And I was left standing deep in the snow.
}}

-28

{{ph|class=chapter|Japan}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|end=same-line|
{{sc|Little}} lacquer cups in boxes of light wood exquisitely made:
The swords of the samurai, with guards inlaid in patterns of silver and gold, which, once drawn, must be sheathed with honor or in the bodies of their bearers:
The children at evening, in their bright dresses, playing about the streets:
The stupid, lumpish faces of the women in the fishing villages:
The grotesque yet overwhelming dignity of the Ne dancers, masked and brilliant, declaiming before the painted pine of the background:
The tracks of ghost foxes through the woods where the boys hunt for mushrooms in the autumn:
The restraint of the tea ceremony:
The long swirl of the robes of the beauties of the Green Houses:
The farm girls with their kimono-skirts caught in their belts, planting young rice shoots knee-deep in the ooze of the terraces, thinking curiously, as they see their
}}

-29

{{ppoem|class=poem|start=same-line|
faces reflected in the brown water, of the white powdered skins of the city girls:
The consumptive look of the clerks kneeling on clean mats like ascetics in contemplation:
Compactness.
}}

—30

-31

{{ph|class=chapter|Moon Over China}}

—32

-33

{{ph|class=chapter|Moon Over China}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Moon}} over China,
Weary moon on the river of the sky
The stir of light in the willows is like the flashing of a thousand minnows
Through dark shoals.
The tiles on the graves and rotting temples shine like ripples,
The sands of deserts, and the great shoulders of treeless mountains whiten austerely in its rays.
The sky is flecked with clouds like the scales of a dragon,
And the beggars lying beneath the city walls huddled together, whine
{{fqm}}It will rain on us before another nightfall."
}}

-34

{{ph|class=chapter|Early Dusk}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} moon is as frail as a disk of cobwebs,
The willows are scarcely green among the meadows
Where a thousand paper pennons wave above the crops
And the black oxen walk slowly homeward beside the still canals,
In the distant sky a kite is tugging at its string,
The rooks caw among their nests in the treetops,
Above the doors set deep in russet walls
Droop broken branches of faint green willow,
And the men and girls come from their work in the fields
Carrying sprays of flowering almond in their hands.
}}

-35

{{ph|class=chapter|Spring}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} earth's coat is the green of young willows
Beside brown streams.
It is embroidered over with flowering trees—
Plum, peach and apricot.
Her sleeves are delicately scented.
Her hair is unbound in the wind.
Even the moon is so enamoured
That before dusk he climbs the stairs of heaven to behold her.
}}

-36

{{ph|class=chapter|Prayer}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} little gate opens from the dragon garden
Into the smoky darkness of the temple
Lit by the red wax tapers' swaying flames.
The air is heavy with the incense
Burned before the painted images of the gods.
In the bronze brazier I too shall burn my offering—
Silver paper for the spirits of the falling peach blossoms.
}}

-37

{{ph|class=chapter|From the Pavilion}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|All}} month from the pavilion I look forth
Across the pool to where the willow tree
Flings long green pennons to the water's rim.
The small peach bears a load all blossomy
But presently she lets it downward fall
Petal by petal from her listless hands
Intent on listening to the beating wings
Of swift spring days flying from southern lands.
Beneath the crested eaves the wind-bells praise
Hawk days, dove days, and darting swallow days.
}}

-38

{{ph|class=chapter|Loneliness}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} candle gave good augury last night.
All day I've waited by the garden gate,
My arms about the child, and now it's late
And still he has not ridden into sight.
No fate is good for me save his return,
The babe is a plum-garland for his heart.
It cannot be the Gods will us to part—
To-night again the candle I must burn.

O empty street, I do not think you lead
To the dear lord for whom my poor heart grieves.
The sky has walled you up like an old tomb
And in the dark there's dew upon my sleeves.
}}

-39

{{ph|class=chapter|Tribute}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} shadows of the camels are long
On the parched ground.

The weary shuffling feet
Make no sound.

Through clouds of yellow dust.
The city lies

Turned golden to the weary
Riders' eyes.

They shall find welcome there
From princely men

For the sake of their frosted vase
Of porcelain.
}}

-40

{{ph|class=chapter|Deserted}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Into}} the ancient courtyard only come
The winds to scatter swirls of blossom petals
About the bronzen phoenix, and great daws
To build untidy nests in evergreens.
A swaggering magpie perches on the eaves
Among the broken orange-tinted tiles.
The gates are bolted—these alone come near,
Unless one counts the antiquarian moss
Creeping to treasure the last faint imprint
Of royal feet upon the worn flag-stones.
}}

-41

{{ph|class=chapter|By the Canal}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|At}} the wall-corner where the tiled roof throws
A sweeping, swallow line against the sky
The peach-tree stands, outlined in faded rose,
The rooks backward and forward fly,
Two hens take shelter where the mulberry grows,
The rain scuds by.
}}

-42

{{ph|class=chapter|Ghouls}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|All}} day the long cold fingers of the rain
Have pried at the gray tiles above the graves
Finishing the work of years in the drear fields,
Where coffins lie uncovered in the light
Of sulfurous mustard blooms. Here by the bank
The greedy water has uncovered bones
Shining, blue-white, wet in the biting wind.
}}

-43

{{ph|class=chapter|Marsh Chase}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} light of the hid moon streaks all the sky
With ominous panther bars,
The marshes lie
In taut and quivering silence,
The lagoons
Lip through their grasses searching for lost moons.
Like evil berries the green fire-flies light
On the long rushes,
Through the dim-lit night
A round red lantern flees,
Jerking and blind,
From the red lantern following close behind.
}}

-44

{{ph|class=chapter|Release}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} dust is thick along the road,
The fields are scorching in the sun,
My wife has many a bitter word
To greet me when the day is done.

The neighbors rest beside the gate
But half their words are high and shrill,
My little son is young to help,
The fields are very hard to till.

But in the dusk I raise my eyes
And the poet's words come back to me
{{fqm}}In the moon there is a white jade gate
Shadowed cool by a cassia tree."
}}

-45

{{ph|class=chapter|The Mountains}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|It}} is evening.
The mountains sit, impenetrable as Buddhas,
The light falls upon their foreheads
Leaving their quiet forms and vast robes in darkness.
The sky hangs drooping above their heads
Like a canopy;
The immense earth is awed beneath their feet.
Only the lowing of the cows and the calls of the {{hinc|herdboys}} in the meadows
Come faintly to their ears.
}}

-46

{{ph|class=chapter|The Great Wall}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Mountains}},
Green faded to gold,
Turf-shaggy like a camel,
Towering,
Tumultuous,
Uncompromising as the ten commandments,
Glorious as a psalm,
Gale-swept, cloud-swept, sand-swept, snow-swept—

Across these the Wall's crested sinuousness
Daring all chasms,
Leaping all precipices,
Writhing its stone length
Across each challenge of tormented rock
To raise again a blunt watch-tower head
Down-glaring on Mongolia's fierce plains.
}}

-47

{{ph|class=chapter|Exile}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} sun is only the sun here
But every day when he goes to China
He is a celestial dragon breathing gold and scarlet.
And the moon here is only a moon
But over the pagodas she is a white phoenix,
And there the stars are little silver unicorns with crystal crowns.

The iris are not like our iris, nor the chrysanthemums like our chrysanthemums
For at dusk they hide bewitching carmine mouths behind little fans
And the garden is filled with the sound of their hurrying slippers.
The willow trees too cover white faces with their long sleeves
And the fox bride is pledged in cups of jade.

And we,
We are only lovers here
But who knows what we might be—
In China?
}}

—48

-49

{{ph|class=chapter|Iris From Chinese Bulbs}}

—50

-51

{{ph|class=chapter|Autumn}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Over}} the golden well
Yellow are the elm trees,
Autumn is on the land
There is no breeze.
Forgetful of the dawn
And buzzing noon,
The russet cocks
Crow to the moon.
}}

-52

{{ph|class=chapter|Peony}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|At}} morning she is flushed with wine,
And in the evening she dyes her dress.
Rich is the fragrance of her sleeves,
Imperial is her loveliness.

She decks her ears with pearls at dawn.
She laughs at the green willow's grief,
And when her time has come, she falls
Filled with a radiant disbelief.
}}

-53

{{ph|class=chapter|Fox Grave}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|"Ah}}, hell is wide and thy feet are small,
There is never an inn to shelter thee"—
So wept the poet, bowing his head
Over the grave where her bones should be,
And never saw that his fox-girl love
Was laughing at him through a flowering tree.
}}

-54

{{ph|class=chapter|Flattery}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|If}} you would win the love of Spring.
Then talk to her of trees,
If Summer's favor you would have
Be bold to mention these—
Her gardens in their golden prime
Sung to by courtier bees.
}}

-55

{{ph|class=chapter|The Lover}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|In}} sable and cicada gauze
He sought the Flower-and-Vaper House.
They filled with wine the white jade cups
And crowned him for carouse.
But though he held Nim No's gay sleeve
The eyes were blank she turned to him
For she was listening to a song
Down by the river's brim.
}}

-56

{{ph|class=chapter|The Tomb of Flowers}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|When}} the courtesan Chong Khin died
Her grave was on Jasmine Hill,
Each lover planted a flower
And the flowers bloom there still—

But where is Chong Khin the lovely
And the lovers who bowed to her will?
}}

-57

{{ph|class=chapter|Festival}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Maple}} oars lash the sea, red with the setting sun,
The sea-gulls cry aloud like women above the slain,
I sit in the festival boat beneath the awnings of silk,
But there is no joy in my heart.
Shall I never see him again?
}}

-58

{{ph|class=chapter|Love Tower}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Prince Sung}} built Tsheng-leng tower
From which he might espy
Dame Sik of the smoke-like hair
And willow-waist go by.

When the moon looks full at the sun
In the month that the asters flower
Prince Sung bade bring Dame Sik
Into the gay tiled tower.

{{fqm}}Give thy handmaid leave to bathe,
And change her unworthy dress,
She will serve thee with napkin and comb
As befits thy, worshipfulness."

She bathed and changed her robes
In a long slow Autumn hour.
Then smiled in the face of Prince Sung
And leapt from the top of the tower.
}}

-59

{{ph|class=chapter|The Waves}}

{{ph|class=chapter-subtitle|Suggested by the Korean}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} waves break on the shore:
Dragons white-scaled breathing a flying mist
Rasping the pebbles with white slipping talons,
Gray cliffs cloud-circled falling in thundering ruin,
Low-driven sleet and snow crashing across the frozen marshes of the void—
The waves break on the shore.
}}

-60

{{ph|class=chapter|China}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Dust}} and ruined beauty:
The free walk of the men in their dark blue clothes:
The shrewd humorous faces of the women:
Loud voices and everywhere the latent mob:
Temples created as by magic, with the imperial gold tiles falling from the roofs like leaves from an Autumn elm:
Ridiculous whimsicality of embroideries:
Confucius, Laotze, and Buddha with wagging sleeves, in a dance before the applauding old men of heaven:
That greatest of all dragons, the Great Wall, coiling over whole ranges, the work and tomb of millions:
Age, decrepitude, non-individualism, bursting like a scarlet fire-cracker into a shower of lyrics.
}}

-61

{{ph|class=chapter|Moon Over the Tropics}}

—62

-63

{{ph|class=chapter|Moon Over the Tropics}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Moon}} over the tropics,
A white curved bud
Opening its petals slowly in the warmth of heaven . . .
The white tree-lilies droop in its presence,
The long-stemmed cocoanut palms catch little reflections
And gather them on their leaves like garlands of shiny flowers.
The air is full of odors
And langorous warm sounds.
In the flooded terraces the bright outline of the moon
Is a silver floor for the young rice to stand upon,
And a flute drones its insect music to the night
Below the curving moon-petal of the sky.
}}

-64

{{ph|class=chapter|The South Seas Islands}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Out}} from the sea the islands emerge
Like sharp buds with petals close-folded.
The coral reefs lie about them, rimming lily pads of round still water,
And the sun shines, and the trade winds blow, and the continents lie out of memory beyond the horizon.
The trees are thick and heavy with fruit and flowers,
The blue seas are filled with fish and monsters like nightmares,
From high up in the hills comes the cool sound of falling water,
And the people are of a race grown tall and shapely
With the taste of human blood, offered in the darkness of the gods.
}}

-65

{{ph|class=chapter|Les Seins aux Fleurs Rouges}}

{{ph|class=chapter-subtitle|Gauguin Island Women}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|They}} are the daughters of the morning of the world
Hidden for centuries behind the walls of the sea.
They are part of the jungle as fruits are or flowers
And their breasts are like blossoms.
Their forms are luminous as though they had stored up the sunshine
And all their motions are large and tranquil.
}}

-66

{{ph|class=chapter|Apparition}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} moon at the water's edge
Is a woman dancing on silver swords.
}}

-67

{{ph|class=chapter|The Coolie Ship}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Across}} the huddled forms, each wrapped in its blanket,
Lying in the dim light drifted with the smoke of opium pipes,
Fetid with close-packed life,
Sound the broken notes of a crude and primitive flute.
The waves strike the ship which rocks and tosses,
The weary figures are torpid, each beside its bundle,
The stars swing and sway as though weighted to strings,
The tired engines gasp and strain against the sea—
They beat quick and uneven like the heart of a dying man.

Yet across the troubled ship, losing itself in the hugeness of sky and sea
The Chinese flute breathes its broken song into the night.
}}

-68

{{ph|class=chapter|Under the Sandalwood Tree}}

{{ph|class=chapter-subtitle|From a Catalogue of Vedic Paintings}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|In}} the early morning
Under the sandalwood tree
Sits the woman, in her robe of an ascetic,
Under the sandalwood tree
Playing the instrument, Poöngi,
Calling the peacocks and snakes,
The peacocks that stand about her in a circle,
With spread tails, a wall of bronze,
A wall of jewelled bronze, ohé!
And the snakes that sway their throats,
Their rippling throats, mailed and slender,
To the sound of the instrument, Poöngi,
In the thin hands of the holy woman
Under the sandalwood tree
In the morning,
The early hours of the morning.
}}

-69

{{ph|class=chapter|The Sacred Pastoral of Brindaban}}

{{bc|From a series of Rajput paintings giving incidents in the village life of Krishna, the Divine Herdsman, and Rādhā, his beloved among the herd-girls, in the mystic drama of God and the Soul.}}

{{bc|
{{asc|Cow-dust}}
{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|In}} the first dusk Krishna, the Divine Herdsman, drives the cows through the village gates:
Like a river they flow, white and dun and spotted, with strings of bells about their throats and their large-eyed calves at their sides;
The hands of the {{hinc|herd-boys}} are on their sleek flanks, they are singing as they follow.
The girls carrying pitchers of water turn to look, and from the windows in white walls
Veiled women lean down, smilingly stretching out hennatipped fingers
Towards Krishna who walks slowly, blue as the evening smoke,
Drawing all souls after him with the music of his flute.
}}
}}

-70

{{bc|
{{asc|Secret meeting}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} cow stands quietly to be milked, turning her kind head over her shoulder:
The rest of the herd has passed into the barns:
It is evening.
At the door of her house stands Radha, gently holding the calf
And guessing perhaps that the woman's veil of the milker
Covers the face of her lover.
In a minute, in a minute, he will rise
And come towards her:
The dusk will be full of the sweetness of new milk,
And the sound of the cow breathing as she leans to her calf.
Then he will take her into his arms
And her heart at last will be as quiet as the evening itself.
}}
}}

{{bc|
{{asc|Jealousy}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} wood is filled with long streamers of flowers,
And birds that sing among the branches.
In a glade Krishna is standing towering above the milkmaids that surround him.
They sway, smiling, from the circle of his arms,
Their draperies swirl along the grass—
Only Rādhā, whom he does not see, stands straight among the bright-eyed flowers,
Like a cypress in her grief.
}}
}}

-71

{{bc|
{{asc|Longing}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} storm is rising and the clouds call to one another in terrible voices,
The air is heavy with coming rain, the lighting runs across the sky
And the soul is nearly fainting with longing for love.
On the roof the peacock is dancing, singing shrill songs in honor of the tempest,
While Rādhā reaches up to it a bowl of meal,
An offering to quiet her heart torn by the absence of her lover.
}}
}}

{{bc|
{{asc|Content}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Rādhā,}} the beloved, kneels before her cooking, smiling and concentrated,
She has thrown back her long robe from her shoulders, showing the blossoms of her breast,
Her feet on the carpet are tipped with red like lotuses,
Behind her the maid bends over the baskets of vegetables
And from a balcony window the face of Krishna looks down,
And smiles, for the iris-throated pigeons are cooing upon the roofs
And Rādhā, among her pots, is lovely with the thought of love.
}}
}}

-72

{{ph|class=chapter|Adventure}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|I shall}} buy me a sampan shaped like a slipper
With eyes on either side of the prow,
And hoist a sail all ruddy-golden
For the Spice Isles now.
There will be nine Chinamen upon her
With naked backs, like the sail red-gold,
And silks and ivory and jade and amber
Will fill the hold.

I shall sail forever between green islands
While under her poop the wake will grow—
A ripple across the copper waters
In the tropic glow.
}}

-73

{{ph|class=chapter|Java}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|Everywhere}} the fresh green of rice in the terraces, with the herons perched on the mud walls,
And the roads like tree-bordered bridges between the fields;
The huge ruins of the Hindu faiths, where meek Buddhas sit throned on broken lotuses:
The neighing of little stallions in silver-trimmed harness:
The straight backs and beautiful breasts of the smiling brown women:
The long hours after ''rice table'' spent reading behind the mosquito nets while the lizards watch from the ceiling:
Wild hill-nasturtiums thickly carpeting a pine wood:
The swaying of one's chair while the eight-man squads of bearers are racing one another down a narrow trail:
The tentacled cone of the Bromo rising out of the expanse of the Sand Sea:
Orchids and tree-toads.
}}

-74

{{ph|class=chapter|In Siamese Waters}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|There}} is an island like a sickle moon
That lies deserted in a tropic sea,
Half-finished terraces of masonry
Lead up to heights that know the cool monsoon,
Sweet odors hold the silence in a swoon,
For everywhere the frangipanni tree,
Twisted and leafless, but all blossomy,
Traces its scented shadow in the noon.

Paths lead to shaded grottoes and small coves
Meant for a royal lady's bathing-place,
But no one moves among the warm strange groves,
The shining sea reflects no leaning face,
There are not even ghosts, or so it seems,
To wake the spot from its enchanted dreams.
}}

-75

{{ph|class=chapter|The Oxen}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} yoke of great white oxen bow their heads
Beneath the weight of their up-curving horns
Brass-tipped and painted a dull apricot.
On each flank two faint bluish sweeping lines
Mark the old branding,
Heavy are their humps,
Swaying the thin white dewlap from their throats.
Ten silver bells are bound from horn to horn.
The driver stands, one leg behind the other,
Wrapped in white cloth from thin loins to thin knee,
His awkwardness a grace conventionalized.
Up to the oxen's bellies all is green
But their low-swinging heads and sword-like horns
And all the angles of the man are placed
Against a brilliant blue.

So might they stand
Frescoed upon the walls of some old tomb,
To fill with pride the dusted hearts of mummies
Still masters over so much tranquil power.
}}

-76

{{ph|class=chapter|Chang Wat}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|The}} wat towers rise in slim phantasy against the evening,
Pied with flowers of porcelain are they like an English meadow
Or the border of some monkish chronicle.
The ragged ravens light on their galleries,
And circle, cawing, in flocks about the gardens,
Below the river lies, agleam with sunset.

Buddha! Master! all things serve thee.
See how the peaceful heavens wrap themselves
In the yellow cloak of thy ministry, bending low
To cast its folds across the river's bosom.
After the heat of the day comes the quiet of thy teaching,
When the fierce heart of the sky softens to meditation.
After the bitterness of youth, and the foulness of desire,
Comes wisdom to the hearts of thy children, thy servants of the Yellow Robe.
}}

-77

{{ph|class=chapter|Bali}}

{{ppoem|class=poem|end=follow|
{{sc|In}} a yellow sea lies Bali, sinister and mystic.
From the throats of her volcanoes the steam rises in thick clouds
Spreading desolation and hiding the ancient gods.
The jungle lies about the villages like heavy green water
Lapping the shoals of the terraces,
But the temples
Roof above roof
Thrust their way up into the open air.
Their gateways are carved with the figures of uncouth and grinning deities
Pinnacles of terror.
Old gods of stone lie on the hillsides, their open mouths outlined against the sky,
Listening to the narrow water falling beside them
Where the women fill their jars in the lush coolness of evening.
In the rice terraces one might dream that the sky lay shattered,
With the young shoots for stars.
{{dhr}}
}}

-78

{{ppoem|class=poem|start=follow|
The pink flamingoes stand on the banks
And the palm trees grow above them
Like visions,
Like minarets,
Thin and swaying as dancing girls in elaborate headdresses.

Wave on wave in fluid brilliance. The copper sea breaks against the cliffs.
Wave on wave it strikes the drums of the rocks And sends the sound throbbing along the sky.
}}

-79

{{ppoem|class=poem|
{{sc|I have}} seen lovely sights in far-off places
Whose very names with sandalwood are sweet.
And lure the tongue until it must repeat:
Canton, and Bangkok on its marshy spaces,
Kyoto filled with children's flower-like faces.
And all the marvel of a Peking street,
And burning Kilauea at one's feet,
And Singapore, the meeting-place of races.

So having seen, I say: Beauty is one
And needs no journeying nor far emprise,
Across all things its gracious tendrils run
And flower unnoticed by our casual eyes—
The apple tree that blossoms in the sun
Is not surpassed by all of Paradise!/last/
}}

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