| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Song of Mocking for an Old Woman | | By Myrtle Eberstein |
| | From “Woman-songs of the Herero” A primitive people of Northwestern Africa
She is old, | |
| Her breasts are withered, | |
| Nobody will give cows for her. | |
| |
| When she goes to carry water | |
| The shining black young men, | 5 |
| Big, laughing lazily, | |
| They mock at her | |
| Although she carries them water and food at noon. | |
| “She is old,” they say, | |
| “Old and withered like the dead mangrove | 10 |
| That once had red blossoms.” | |
| They do not know | |
| Red blossoms are in her heart still, | |
| For her breasts are withered. | |
| |
| She is old: | 15 |
| None would give cows for her. | | | | |
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