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The River-Merchant's Wife - A Letter by Ezra Pound - Poetry Foundation

The poem describes a wife waiting for her husband to return from a trip, expressing her longing for him through memories of their life together in their village and her sadness at his prolonged absence. She asks that if he is returning down the river, to let her know so that she can meet him at a specific place.

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78 views1 page

The River-Merchant's Wife - A Letter by Ezra Pound - Poetry Foundation

The poem describes a wife waiting for her husband to return from a trip, expressing her longing for him through memories of their life together in their village and her sadness at his prolonged absence. She asks that if he is returning down the river, to let her know so that she can meet him at a specific place.

Uploaded by

xamid66202
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6/28/24, 10:23 PM The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter by Ezra Pound | Poetry Foundation

The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter


BY EZR A POUND

After Li Po

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead


I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chōkan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,


I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever, and forever.
Why should I climb the look out?

At sixteen you departed


You went into far Ku-tō-en, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

You dragged your feet when you went out.


By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away!
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me.
I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Chō-fū-Sa.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47692/the-river-merchants-wife-a-letter-56d22853677f9 1/2

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