[Editor: This poem by Una Shaw was published in The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 23 May 1931.]
The Lost Princess.
The King of China’s daughter
Was walking all alone,
She left the yellow mandarins,
She left her gilded throne;
She left the Prince, although she knew
His heart was all her own.
Her feet were shod with silver,
Her train was bound with gold,
She wore a cloak of dragon skin,
To keep her from the cold.
She vanished on that winter’s night
Before the moon was old.
Perchance she fled to Araby,
Or Egypt far away,
And dwelled there in silk and gold
And all her fine array;
I only know she left her home
For ever and a day.
The sad old King of China
Sits mourning on his throne,
The mandarins are sorrowing,
The Prince is left alone,
And broken is the loving heart
That still is all her own.
UNA SHAW.
Source:
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 23 May 1931, p. 9
Editor’s notes:
It is possible that the subject of “The King of China’s daughter” was derived from the well-known poem “The King of China’s Daughter” (published in two parts, 1918 and 1920) by Edith Sitwell, an English poet.
See: 1) “‘The King of China’s Daughter’ by Edith Sitwell (1918/1920)”, The Shimmering Ostrich
2) “The King of China’s Daughter by Edith Sitwell, my favourite poem”, Parissa Sheerin
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