The Song Book of Quong Lee of Limehouse [4]
hold The colours of the flower before its leaves unclose; How the tones of your voice, sounding in my ears, Float before my eyes like strings of lanterns; How, when I look closely upon you, I see my thoughts like a white river in your eyes; How, as I walk down the street where you have trod, The very stones are to me the smiles that you scatter as you pass. How your look thrills my heart as a guitar thrills to the touch.
And I will tell him that you are not for me, For you are white and I am yellow; Unless, perchance, shame and disgrace fall upon you, As it falls upon some girls of this quarter, And your neighbours and friends pass by the other way. Then, perhaps, it would be permitted to me To render service to you.
On a Saying of Mencius
That was well said of Mencius: The misfortunes of one are the entertainment of many.
When Prosperity attended the occasions of this person, And his heart smiled within him, He was regarded and received on all sides by his fellows With attitudes of dignity and expressions of mandarin-like solemnity, And his laughing heart could fetch no smile To the faces of those about him.
But when, on a recent manifestation of evil spirits, He was hailed before those in authority And commanded to pay very many taels, For the fault of possessing some morsels of chandu, the Great Tobacco, And his heart was heavy and dark as a raincloud within him, He was received on all sides With attitudes of mirth and expressions of no-gravity.
Dockside Noises
There are in Limehouse many sounds; A hundred different sounds by day and night.
The crash and mutter of the dockside railway, The noise of quarrel, the noise of fist on face, My country's songs, guitars, and gramophones, The noise of boot on stone, The noise of women bargaining their flesh, The noise of singers in the ships, Sounds of threat and sounds of fear, Blasts of hammer and steel and iron, The scream of syren, the wail of hooter, The clangour of angry bells, The boom of guns, the clatter of factories, The panic of feet, and malevolent words.
All these sounds I know, and they disturb me not. The sound that is to me most terrible, That snatches slumber from me, Is the sound that is most common: The scream of a child at night.
Reproof and Approbation
Because I gave a piece of silk To my friend of the golden curls, One (may the dogs devour him) threw a stone at my window, And hooted and jeered and made base noise with his mouth. Nay, worse, this son of a sea-slug (may his line perish) Hurled hard names at my friend, Calling her Tart, and Flusey, and Tom; and, as we walked together, Cried: `Watcher, Nancy, who's yer friend with the melon face And the bug-eaten cabbage-leaf on his head?'
The lean and scurvy dog that slinks about Pennyfields Flew in great fear at sight of this reprover of our doings, And came to me, and rubbed itself against my shoe.
The Feast of Go Nien
We are now in the Pepper Month; And soon will come the Feast of Go Nien. Then I will pay my debts, and gather in my dues. I will walk in the great procession; And afterwards I will hang up my devil-chasers And will proceed to the restaurant of Ng Tack, And drink spring wine with him and meet my friends.
That evening I shall eat of the best: Of chicken cream and pigeon in soy-ed, With a brown noodle of pork and prawn, And a curry of fish and a large Chung Goun, Sweet onions, and black eggs and chow chow. And when we have done, We will have cakes and tea, and music and songs, And call in our white friends to sit with us.
For this one day we shall be each to the other, What the other would desire. Perhaps it is well that this day Occurs but once in the year's calendar; For if we always so behaved, one to the other, There would be no business done.
Directions for Making Tea
In making tchah for table, each man has his own way. Some serve it dashed with lemon, and some with bamboo shoot, And some with sugar, in the English way, And some with spot of sam-shu.; But when one offers tchah to distinguished visitor, One offers the
And I will tell him that you are not for me, For you are white and I am yellow; Unless, perchance, shame and disgrace fall upon you, As it falls upon some girls of this quarter, And your neighbours and friends pass by the other way. Then, perhaps, it would be permitted to me To render service to you.
On a Saying of Mencius
That was well said of Mencius: The misfortunes of one are the entertainment of many.
When Prosperity attended the occasions of this person, And his heart smiled within him, He was regarded and received on all sides by his fellows With attitudes of dignity and expressions of mandarin-like solemnity, And his laughing heart could fetch no smile To the faces of those about him.
But when, on a recent manifestation of evil spirits, He was hailed before those in authority And commanded to pay very many taels, For the fault of possessing some morsels of chandu, the Great Tobacco, And his heart was heavy and dark as a raincloud within him, He was received on all sides With attitudes of mirth and expressions of no-gravity.
Dockside Noises
There are in Limehouse many sounds; A hundred different sounds by day and night.
The crash and mutter of the dockside railway, The noise of quarrel, the noise of fist on face, My country's songs, guitars, and gramophones, The noise of boot on stone, The noise of women bargaining their flesh, The noise of singers in the ships, Sounds of threat and sounds of fear, Blasts of hammer and steel and iron, The scream of syren, the wail of hooter, The clangour of angry bells, The boom of guns, the clatter of factories, The panic of feet, and malevolent words.
All these sounds I know, and they disturb me not. The sound that is to me most terrible, That snatches slumber from me, Is the sound that is most common: The scream of a child at night.
Reproof and Approbation
Because I gave a piece of silk To my friend of the golden curls, One (may the dogs devour him) threw a stone at my window, And hooted and jeered and made base noise with his mouth. Nay, worse, this son of a sea-slug (may his line perish) Hurled hard names at my friend, Calling her Tart, and Flusey, and Tom; and, as we walked together, Cried: `Watcher, Nancy, who's yer friend with the melon face And the bug-eaten cabbage-leaf on his head?'
The lean and scurvy dog that slinks about Pennyfields Flew in great fear at sight of this reprover of our doings, And came to me, and rubbed itself against my shoe.
The Feast of Go Nien
We are now in the Pepper Month; And soon will come the Feast of Go Nien. Then I will pay my debts, and gather in my dues. I will walk in the great procession; And afterwards I will hang up my devil-chasers And will proceed to the restaurant of Ng Tack, And drink spring wine with him and meet my friends.
That evening I shall eat of the best: Of chicken cream and pigeon in soy-ed, With a brown noodle of pork and prawn, And a curry of fish and a large Chung Goun, Sweet onions, and black eggs and chow chow. And when we have done, We will have cakes and tea, and music and songs, And call in our white friends to sit with us.
For this one day we shall be each to the other, What the other would desire. Perhaps it is well that this day Occurs but once in the year's calendar; For if we always so behaved, one to the other, There would be no business done.
Directions for Making Tea
In making tchah for table, each man has his own way. Some serve it dashed with lemon, and some with bamboo shoot, And some with sugar, in the English way, And some with spot of sam-shu.; But when one offers tchah to distinguished visitor, One offers the