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