|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ETERNAL CHINA, by THOMAS CASEY
First Line: The flames are dying at the dragon's mouth
Last Line: And drum -- advancing on the truth of life.
Subject(s): China
First Line: The flames are dying at the dragon's mouth
Last Line: And drum -- advancing on the truth of life.
Subject(s): China
The flames are dying at the dragon's mouth,
And the hissing head, the steaming hide,
Settle together, and a burning drouth
Is scorching the sorrel countryside.
A night of cold foreverness must fall,
Unless a comet brush us far astray,
And China rise from darkness over all
And trample forward through its old decay.
The great gored dragon coiling on its spine
With fast barbs far in the life of the mass,
Bleeds slowly, but the soul retains its shrine,
And wounds may heal, and trumpets declaring, pass
Up flights of time, outsounding both the fife
And drum -- advancing on the truth of life.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
ELEGIES FOR THE OCHER DEER ON THE WALLS AT LASCAUX by NORMAN DUBIE
ON THE CHINESE ABDUCTION OF TIBET'S CHILD PANCHEN LAMA by NORMAN DUBIE
CULTURAL EVOLUTION; AFTER POPE by CAROLYN KIZER
MARRIAGE SONG; WITH COMMENTARY by CAROLYN KIZER
WHERE I'VE BEEN ALL MY LIFE by CAROLYN KIZER
A CHINESE FAN PAINTING by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER