Original by https://hellopoetry.com/@cj-sutherland
https://hellopoetry.com/poems/5189934/confucius-say
If Kǒngzǐ (Confucius) had read your poem, he might say this in observation and reflection:
A mouth speaks of ancient truths,
While the heart clings to a caricature.
To seek the 'HEALing' of the body
While the mind is constipated by prejudice
Is to carry a lantern
And close one's eyes.
To borrow a name and provide a joke
Is to eat the peel and throw away the fruit.
May 5
May 5, 2026 at 9:58 AM UTC
Original by https://hellopoetry.com/@cj-sutherland
https://hellopoetry.com/poems/5189934/confucius-say
If Kǒngzǐ (Confucius) had read your poem, he might say this in observation and reflection:
A mouth speaks of ancient truths,
While the heart clings to a caricature.
To seek the 'HEALing' of the body
While the mind is constipated by prejudice
Is to carry a lantern
And close one's eyes.
To borrow a name and provide a joke
Is to eat the peel and throw away the fruit.
To understand why the "Confucius say" trope is problematic, one might imagine a poem titled "Jesus Says" or "Abraham Says" used solely to deliver a joke about constipation. In the West, this would be seen as sacrilegious or crude. Because Confucianism is a Philosophy (a system of ethics and social harmony) rather than a "religion" in the Western sense, many feel entitled to use its founder as a prop. This is a failure to recognize the intellectual and cultural sanctity of the East.
