Unrequited Love

This came about on trying to express love between two whose ages are as wide as a river. Though on opposite banks but at different points in time, they can see but cannot be physically together…

1 歲月河流朝暮刻 Floweth is the River of Time from dawn and through the night,
2 遙遠二岸兩相隔 And far apart are its banks, separating us.
3 銀漢一人鵲橋難 ‘tis difficult to build a magpie bridge in the Milky Way for one,
4 西痴東望総是客 Lovelorn in the West, staring to the East but still an outsider be.

1 歲 refers to the changing of the seasons and 月, the phases of the moon – the passage of the time. 刻 technically refers to 1/100 of a day, slightly less than 15 minutes. The character means “a mark/etching”. These are the marks on the sundial or on a clepsydra.

2 The separation refers to the two banks or people.

3 Another name for 銀河, the Milky Way. This refers to the story of the Cowherd and the Spinning Maid. The bridge of magpies was formed by starting on the opposite banks so that the lovers could meet in the middle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cowherd_and_the_Weaver_Girl

4 On the timeline, west (left) refers to earlier years. 客 means “guest”, not part of the family living together, hence “outsider” is a more appropriate translation. This poem laments about unrequited love from an older person for a younger one.

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Free Like A Bird

 

This poem was inspired by the first line that came to my mind during my walk in the alligator park.

1 風過湖心微波岸 Coursing through mid lake, the wind rippled gently on the banks,
2 水動銀閃群影降 Glimmering in silver as shadows fell upon undulating waters.
3 蘆花凌空接相迎 And to the sky, reed florets astir in mutual welcome,
4 白鷺交合點輕浪 While herons in white gently mingling, touching clement swells.

5 曾似飛燕掌上舞 Like how once Flying Swallow danced upon human palms,
6 莫亞楊家羽衣罕 Its plumage is as rare as the feathered skirt of the Yang family.
7 紅顏命薄鳥無憂 Life - never kind to too beautiful a woman and birds - nary a care in life,
8 一生自閑渡霄漢 Whose wholly existence is in carefreeness crossing the heavenly skies.

2 動 just means “to move” but I feel that this is not enough.

4 Now we know the wind is caused by the group of herons alighting on the waters and reed flowers are flying everywhere.

5 “Flying Swallow” is the name of a dancer who later became a Han Dynasty Empress. It was rumored that she was so light and lithe that she could dance on human palms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Feiyan

https://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-is-fairy-retaining-skirt.html

6 "its plumage" is not in the original but to make things clearer for the reader.  莫亞 “not second”, i.e. “second to none”. This line alludes to Yang Guifei who wore the “rainbow skirt and feathered robes” in a dance choreographed by her and the music was composed by the Emperor Tang Hsuan Tsung. Sons are prized in Chinese society even today but an anomaly rose during Yang Guifei’s time that even Po Chu-I immortalized it in his Song of Eternal Sorrow, the lines, 遂令天下父母心, 不重生男重生女 (Resulting in the hearts of all parents, Unimportant it is to bear sons but daughters).

7 紅顏, literally “rosy face”. Here, famous beauties such as Chao Feiyan and Yang Guifei are used as examples.

8 It is better to become a bird that can soar so freely in the skies.

Friday, June 17, 2022

An Eulogy To My Father - 亡父弔

While playing Hero Wars this morning, in the midst of a battle, a line suddenly came to mind and was able to write out the entire poem with minimal changes as it was being committed onto paper. When I was done with the daily tasks of the game, I went back to sleep.

Upon wakening to greet the afternoon, I used the poem as my calligraphy practice. Suddenly, I realized that it was an unconscious eulogy for my father… After some tweaking here and there, I was satisfied with the final version.

People have unique ways to express their grief even though nary a tear had fallen from my face when the news was received. His parting was not unexpected. My initial reaction was like one’s beloved pet had gone.

Originally, an idea for a story which I entitled “A Monkey Story” was developed consciously. However, as I started writing, the mood was gone and unable to complete it. Perhaps in the future… The mind has a funny way of working things out…

1 黄鶴樓空夕陽下 Emptiness abounds on Yellow Crane Tower in the setting sun,
2 嫦娥殷勤為誰家 For whom does the moon now shines lovingly upon?
3 東流盡去不復返 Waters flowing incessantly east but never to return,
4 昨日榮華是真假 Glories of yesteryears seemed not so real now.

1 “Riding on a crane”, 跨鶴仙遊, is a euphemism for one’s journey to the beyond. Sunset denotes the twilight years of one’s life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Crane_Tower

2 Literally, “For whom does Chang-Er is solicitous”. Chang-Er is the lunar goddess. Originally, her name was Heng’e. The name change was due to naming tabu when Han Wen Ti assumed the throne because her name contains a similar character, 姮to the emperor’s 恒. 恆 is a variant form.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Wen_of_Han

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e

3 Even though the flow of rivers is endless, eventually all will be emptied into the eastern ocean due to geographical features. Flowing waters denote the passage of time.

4 Past glories” denote the prowess of youth etc., which are now becoming hazy like a dream fresh from wakening. In modern Chinese, the colloquial equivalent is something like, “昨日人的榮華福貴, 恩怨悲樂, 是真? 是假?”

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Regrets?

The first line was inspired by this fountain in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, Canada.

1 六月柳枝泉水噴 Willow boughs in June and fountains are spewing,
2 幽林曲徑見無人 Crooked paths through the forest where no one goes.
3 池唐蓮花仍未醒 In the ponds, where lotus blossoms had not wakened,
4 松鼠果摘白鷺群 Squirrels are picking pine nuts while white herons flocked.

5 兩袖清風百忌休 Two sleeves billowing in the wind - a hundred angst are laid to rest,
6 一生逍遙半世恨 An entire life in carefreeness but half in regret.
7 星月何慮雲烟蔽 Would the stars and the moon be worried by obscuring clouds?
8 杯盡莫怨向誰問 Then blame not in asking whom for more when the cup is empty!

5 Literally, “two sleeves [containing] fresh wind”. 清 also means pure and 風, style/custom/manner. Said of an upright incorruptible official, taking no bride and servicing justice to the people. In the old days, Chinese sleeves are long and wide where small pockets are used to hold loose change etc. Hence, when empty, they billow easily in the wind. Nothing to worry about when one leads a virtuous life.

7 Here the stars and the moon refers to upright people of various levels of incorruptibility. There is nothing to fear, for in the end, the truth will always shine through.

8 Now we know the reason in line 6 about their regrets. Because being so incorruptible, their lives will not be wealthy when their official career ends. Official salaries were not generous and hence many officials took brides – a delicate balance between idealism and being practical must be achieved. I suppose the Singapore Government had learnt well from Chinese history.

Monday, June 6, 2022

Four In A Row!

Today, I was on a roll from my brush writing practice.  Four new poems were created.  However, the most refinements were done during the next day flight from LA to Seattle.  With three hours to kill, my beloved Muse was kind enough to linger till the plane had landed. I was glad...

1 歌盡杯傾殘星看 The songs had ended and the cups had runneth over. I looked up at the fading stars,
2 橋頭水靜行人罕 Quiet is the water flowing at the bridge’s head and passers-by so rare.
3 華燈昨夜滿天紅 Gorgeous lanterns of last night brightly filled the sky in red,
4 胭脂今辰秦淮寒 All the powdered rouge of Qinghuai at this hour had gone cold.

3 Red is an auspicious color. It is used on festive days, celebrations or to attract customers to their establishments.

4 秦淮 was a red light district area. The best entertainment establishments are by the river. The first line infers that morning is approaching and hence all the courtesans are retiring to bed. In Tang Dynasty, though entertainments starts early in the night, the actual visitation takes place just after midnight and leave by the first light of the day. Po Chu-I’s 花非花 describes such encounters in a most elegant way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinhuai_River

Thursday, June 2, 2022

This came after the previous one was completed.  However, the final refinements came much later when I tried to digitize it.

1 萬星九天處 Where a myriad stars are bounded to the Nine Heavens,
2 三宮六院語 Are gossips of the Three Palaces and Six Courtyards.
3 侍君能幾時 Oh when it’s my turn to serve my Lord?
4 霄漢流星雨 I see only the tears of shooting stars.

1 It is believed that there are nine tiers in Heaven, equivalent to Western’s seven. Here it refers to the imperial palace. The imperial harem is represented by “stars”. Ten thousand, 萬, does not mean the actual number but “numerous”.

2 The three palaces refer to the places where the emperor, grand empress dowager (the emperor’s grandmother) or the empress dowager and the empress lived. The “courtyards” are used by various lower ranking harem ladies. Actually they are a dozen of them with six on each side of the main axis of the imperial complex, known as the East West “apartments”.

3 This line can be ambiguous. The harem woman may never get a glimpse of the emperor in their lifetime let alone in serving him or that even if she had the chance to serve and be in favor. Then question would be for how long before being replaced by another. There is only one Emperor in the Ming Dynasty who did not want any concubines but his Empress. Even the founder of the Sui Dynasty, who is known to be deathly scared of his wife. He would not dare to sow wild oats while she lived! These emperors are a rarity, less than a handful.

4 霄漢 is another world for heaven. I did not translate this because shooting stars are in the sky! Here, shooting stars refer to the tears of those in the imperial harem.

Thursday, June 2, 2022

1 廣寒寂寞人間語 The mortal world speaks of loneliness in the palace of Great Frigidity,
2 長門更寥冷宮如 Lonelier still is the Gate of Eternity like the earthly Cold Palace.
3 曾比瑤池仙子貴 Once, more precious than the fairies of the Jasper Pool,
4 今同九天流星雨 Now, like falling stars tearing from Ninth Heaven.

1 Because of the concise grammar in classical Chinese, 語 can be a noun or a verb. As a noun, the line can be translated textually as, “The Palace of Great Frigidity is a lonely place and the mortal full of human voices”.  This palace is where the Goddess of the Moon lives.

2 Again, this is an allusion to the story about Han Wu Ti’s first Empress.  Long or Eternal gate was once owned by the Empress' mother, the Royal Princess, the aunt of the emperor.  She gifted it to the emperor as a bribe for not inquiring into her private affairs when her husband died.  When the empress was deposed, she was interred in luxury in this place but the emperor never visited her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Jiao

3 The pool name in the abode of the Queen Mother of the West.  The female attendants of the Goddess would gather by this pool on their days off.

Thursday, June 2, 2022

I was stuck with this line, 雲海無疆接青天 until I had two and a half hours in the plane flying from LAX to Seattle that I finally was able to complete the skeletal draft. The final version took me another two weeks.

1 騰空萬里九霄靜 Flying unceasingly into the quietness of the Nine Heavens,
2 覓尋何方一遍寧 To search for a place where tranquility exists.
3 雲海無疆接青天 Boundless is the sea of clouds where its end meets the sky of blue,
4 凡塵有遏夢泡影 Limited is the mortal realm but one still dreams of illusions.

1 It is said that there are nine layers in heaven.

2 Being quiet is not the same as being tranquil.

3 Although there are no physical boundaries, there is an illusion of one in the form of a horizon.

4 There are limitations in life but one still has illusory dreams.

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Eternal Gate of Tears

 

Again, during a session of my brush writing practice…

1 淚滴長門水流聲 The sound of flowing water are the tears dripping upon the Eternal Gate,
2 朝暮何聊寂寞醒 Morning and night with nothing else to do, waking up in loneliness.
3 難禁千杯夢魔纒 Even a thousand cups could not keep the demons of my dreams at bay.
4 坐立來去覓舊情 Neither sitting nor standing, neither coming nor going, searching for the love of yesteryears.

1 Long or Eternal gate was once owned by the Empress' mother, the Royal Princess, the aunt of the Emperor Han Wu Ti. She gifted it to the emperor as a bribe for not inquiring into her private affairs when her husband died. When the empress was deposed, she was interred in luxury in this place but the emperor never visited her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Jiao

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Jacaranda Rain I

While gardening in the backyard, a white bench was drenched with fallen  jacaranda blooms which gave impetus to the line 紫花雨... 

It started off as a 5 character poem and for a few days, I worked on it until I had head off to Seattle-Victoria for a vacation.  I don't fret about when the poem is to be completed or put on a hold for a few days or even a few weeks.  I always believe there is a higher reason for it.  When I was ready to publish it and wrote it out with a brush for digitization, I found the tonal quality of the changes from last night was not up to par.  In the end, by changing the poem into a 7 character one, a smoother reading was achieved.

1 後庭清風蘭影處 Fresh breezes in the backyard and under the shadows of orchid blooms,
2 自閑無慮靜詩書 Carefree and insouciant to the world, I write poetry in quietude,
3 莫識春光求榮貴 Not realizing the importance to seek glory and success in one's springtime,

4 豈能安享紫花雨 How then, would the purple blossom rain be enjoyed carefreely?

2 書 is when used as a verb it means “write”, usually with brush and ink. As a noun, the line can be interpreted as “poetry and calligraphy”.

4 In Chinese, jacaranda is 藍花楹 but is too unwieldy to be used here - akin to using a botanical name instead of the common moniker. Jacaranda blossoms will fall enmasse like rain when the time is right - best not to plant it in a place where sweeping is required! I had mine planted in the backyard far away from any walking path.

Saturday, May 28, 2022

For A New Friend

While doodling as usual with my brush writing practice to write out some characters, this line came into being, 山下雪影雲烟夢. However, nothing more came out of it and put it somewhere else. A few days later, I befriended someone from Facebook and we chatted.  When he knew that writing Classical Chinese poetry is one of my passions that he requested me to write something for him.  Such an endeavor is usually difficult since I need to know the person well first.  He sent me a photo of him on the ski slopes in full gear.  With sunglasses on and the person in a distance, it is nothing more than just a generic photo of someone on a ski trip.  Since, it can be anyone, my poem about him would be a generic one as well.  The background snow and the even more distant mountain ranges gave me the idea of using the unused line I had and wove an imaginary story... The only thing real is that his Chinese name is embedded in the poem.

1 山下雪影雲烟夢 At foot of the mountain, under snowy shadows, lies a dream of clouds and mists,
2 五更漸臨月逍遙 The Hour of Fifth slowly approacheth, the moon in unhurried pace.
3 船頭杯傾橋尾醒 Cups runneth over at the boat’s prow and Sobriety awakened at the bridge’s end.
4 酒後歌盡殘星照 The songs had ended, inebriation no more, fading stars still kept on shining.

5 陳年往事雖莫提 Things of the past, though no longer spoken,
6 衷聲難忘舊日笑 ‘tis difficult to forget the sounds of the heart and smiles of bygone days.
7 啓明東有西長庚 The morning star in the east, the evening star in the west.
8 又晚寡帆洞庭宵 Once more as night befell, a lonely boat upon the waters of Lake Grotto Court.

1 Clouds are non-tangible things. Hence refers to things or matters that are trivial, easily dissolved, inconsequential, ethereal, impossible to grasp etc. A chance meeting on the ski slopes?

2 Reality is approaching but the dream is still reluctant to leave. A Chinese hour is equivalent to two modern hours. The fifth hour corresponds roughly to 3am - 5am.

3 Expanding on the theme of the previous line – dreams represented by the party and reality by sobriety.

4 All good things must come to an end and yet memory lingers on forever.

5 陳 is the last name.

7 The morning and evening star refers to planet Venus. 啓明 (announcing brightness/day) is the morning version and 長庚 (longevity) is the evening version. Outward appearance may change but its core remains the same. Part of his name appears on this line.

8 When night resurfaces, old habits die hard. In loneliness, nostalgia comes rushing back, trying to relive the dream once more. The last part of his name appears here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongting_Lake

Saturday, May 28, 2022