Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

A Scholar

Eunice Tietjens

YOU sit, chanting the maxims of Confucius.

On your head is a domed cap of black satin, and your supple hands with their long nails are piously folded.

You rock to and fro rhythmically.

Your voice, rising and falling in clear nasal monosyllables, flows on steadily, monotonously, like the flowing of water and the flowering of thought.

You are chanting, it seems, of the pious conduct of man in all ages;

And I know you for a scoundrel.

None the less the maxims of Confucius are venerable, and your voice pleasant.

I listen attentively.