| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Outcast | | By Josephine Pinckney |
| | | INTO the valleys I flee, into the shadows; | |
| But there is no peace, no sanctuary. | |
| The hills, like elephants, | |
| Shoulder noiseless through the clouds | |
| And close in on me. | 5 |
| Where shall I hide from the tread of their feet? | |
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| I have overset the gods in the temples, and there is none to protect me— | |
| The little gods of jade with staring eyes, | |
| The great gold and black gods with foolish faces. | |
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| Tell me, little gods of the North and East, and of the South and West, | 10 |
| How long shall my bones wait, lying on these rocks, | |
| To become as white as the broken plaster | |
| Of the images in the temple? | |
| Tell me, true gods, | |
| Speak a swift word!— | 15 |
| For the clouds descend in a hot white mist of wrath, | |
| And through them stamp the elephants … | |
| The terrible elephants … | |
| Trumpeting … | | | | |
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