A Ballad Of The Mulberry Road Poem by Ezra Pound

A Ballad Of The Mulberry Road

Rating: 2.7


The sun rises in south east corner of things
To look on the tall house of the Shin
For they have a daughter named Rafu,
(pretty girl)
She made the name for herself: 'Gauze Veil,'
For she feeds mulberries to silkworms.
She gets them by the south wall of the town.
With green strings she makes the warp of her basket,
She makes the shoulder-straps of her basket
from the boughs of Katsura,
And she piles her hair up on the left side of her headpiece.

Her earrings are made of pearl,
Her underskirt is of green pattern-silk,
Her overskirt is the same silk dyed in purple,
And when men going by look on Rafu
They set down their burdens,
They stand and twirl their moustaches.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Eugene Levich 03 June 2014

A lovely poem indeed. It appears to be a translation from a Chinese poet. But which?

1 0 Reply
Esther 15 October 2018

It is a Chinese poem called Mo Shang Sang. Mo means the road, Shang means on, and Sang is the mulberry.Pound's translation is a part of the poem. This part depicts a beautiful girl named Qin Luofu (Rafu) .

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Brian Jani 28 April 2014

Poetry at its best, good work

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Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound

Hailey / Idaho
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