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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CHINA 1937 by LAURA FRANCES ALEXANDER

First Line: NOW IS OLD CATHAY A BROKEN BOWL
Last Line: TO THE GODS OF TIME AND WAR.
Subject(s): CHINA;

Now is old Cathay a broken bowl;
Its curves of riven porcelain
Are curling like loose petals
Of a shattered lotus bloom;
Its patterns are destroyed;
The five-toed dragon,
Sundered vertebrae and claw,
Lies scattered in the broken glaze;
The five glad bats are routed
And all the studied beauty
Is a useless offering
To the gods of time and war.



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