Classic and Contemporary Poetry
K'U-KIANG, by CALE YOUNG RICE Poet's Biography First Line: Because the sun like a chinese lantern Last Line: Set in a temple of clouds. Subject(s): China; Grief; Temples; Sorrow; Sadness; Mosques | ||||||||
Because the sun like a Chinese lantern Set in a temple of clouds tonight, I was back in K'u-Kiang! Because in a temple of dragon clouds, As if with incense misty red, It hung there over the rim of the sea, I was back in a narrow street, Where amber faces pass all day, Going to pay, going to pray, Going the same old human way They have gone for a thousand years, men say, In K'u-Kiang. And I heard the coolie cry for his fare, I heard the merchant praise his ware Of bronze and porcelain set to snare, In K'u-Kiang! I saw strange streaming signs in black With gold and crimson on their back -- Opiate signs in an opiate street; Where the slip and patter of felt-shod feet Is old as the sun; And the temple-door As cool and dark as the night. And where dim lanterns swinging there, As a lure to human grief and care, Half reveal and half conceal The ancestral gloom of the gods. I saw all this with sudden pang, As if by hashish swept or bhang, Because the sun, like a Chinese lantern, Set in a temple of clouds. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BAYADERE by FRANCIS SALTUS SALTUS AT DENDERA by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR RAMESES WORSHIPS RAMESES AT ABU SIMBEL by AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR GLIMPSES OF ITALY: 5. LIKE PAESTUM'S TEMPLE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON MAYAN TEMPLE by ADA CLARKE CARMICHIEL THE EARTHLY HOUSE by PHOEBE CARY THE DESERTED SHRINE by GLADYS CROMWELL THE ARK OF THE COVENANT by NINA DAVIS THE MENORAH by MIRIAM DEL BANCO A CHARM TO BRING CHILDREN (EGYPT, A.D. 100) by CALE YOUNG RICE |
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