________________________________________________
Title: The Lady Of Easy Virtue: An American
Author: Eunice Tietjens [
More Titles by Tietjens]
Lotus,
So they called your name.
Yet the green swelling pod, the fruit-like seeds and
heavy flower, are nothing like to you.
Rather, like a pitcher plant you are, for hope and all
young wings are drowned in you.Your slim body, here in the cafe, moves brightly in
and out. Green satin, and a dance, white wine
and gleaming laughter, with two nodding earrings--these
are Lotus.
And in the painted eyes cold steel, and on the lips a
vulgar jest;
Hands that fly ever to the coat lapels, familiar to
the wrists and to the hair of men. These too
are Lotus.
And what more--God knows!
You too perhaps were stranded here, like these poor
homesick boys, in this great catch-all where the
white race ends, this grim Shanghai that like a
sieve hangs over filth and loneliness.
You were caught here like these, and who could live,
young and so slender--in Shanghai?
Green satin, and a gleaming throat, and painted eyes
of steel,
Hunter or hunted,
Peace be with you,
Lotus!
Shanghai
[The end]
Eunice Tietjens's poem: Lady Of Easy Virtue: An American
________________________________________________
GO TO TOP OF SCREEN
