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Home  »  The New Poetry  »  Scented Leaves from a Chinese Jar

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

Scented Leaves from a Chinese Jar

By Allen Upward

The Word

THE FIRST time the emperor Han heard a certain Word he said, “It is strange.” The second time he said, “It is divine.” The third time he said, “Let the speaker be put to death.”