Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/126

RV 121 (THE PEAR GARDEN) Over the Mountains of the Moon, Until I reached the sun Of my Emperors splendor."

Ming Huang turned to Kao Li-shih. "Her face is like a lotus flower; like floating clouds, her silken robe; like swaying willow-boughs, her grace."

Kao groaned in his heart. "Pity China." For he knew that her surpassing loveliness might better be recorded as "state-destroying charms."

She held out her arms. The dancers grouped about her and removed her cape. Her costume now was yellow; she had dared to wear Imperial Yellow that might have been woven of sunbeams. A golden girl, she stood before him. Her talent brilliant as new silk; moth eyebrows; teeth, pearls enhancing her ruby tongue; her cheeks like the blush of spring; her hair blue-black nets to catch the desires of men. Her eyes gleamed. They had impelled a poet to ecstasy:

RV 121 (121)