With mind indifferent, things I easy take;
In every dance I prompt appearance make:–
Then, when the sun is at his topmost height,
There, in the place that courts the public sight.
With figure large I in the courtyard dance,
And the duke smiles, when he beholds me prance.
A tiger’s strength I have; the steeds swift bound;
The reins as ribbons in my hands are found.
See how I hold the flute in my left hand;
In right the pheasant’s plume, waved like a wand;
With visage red, where rouge you think to trace,
While the duke pleased, sends down the cup of grace!
Hazel on hills; the _ling_ in meadow damp;–
Each has its place, while I’m a slighted scamp.
My thoughts go back to th’ early days of Chow,
And muse upon its chiefs, not equalled now.
O noble chiefs, who then the West adorned,
Would ye have thus neglected me and scorned?
(Confucius)
More Poetry from Confucius:
Confucius Poems based on Topics: Place, Sense & Perception, Dancing, Smiling- King Seuen On The Occasion Of A Great Drought (Confucius Poems)
- An Ode On The Return Of The Troops (Confucius Poems)
- The Complaint Of An Officer (Confucius Poems)
- The Plaint Of King Yew's Forsaken Wife (Confucius Poems)
- Celebrating King Wan (Confucius Poems)
- The Value Of Friendship (Confucius Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Sense & Perception Poems, Place Poems, Smiling Poems, Dancing PoemsBased on Keywords: chow, scamp, equalled
- The Wild Knight (Gilbert Keith Chesterton Poems)
- Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. In Three Cantos. - Canto II. (Matthew Prior Poems)
- Hermann And Dorothea - VI. Klio (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poems)
- The Traveller; or, A Prospect of Society (Oliver Goldsmith Poems)
- A Story Of Plantagenet (Nora Pembroke Poems)