秦淮舊夢 - Dreams of Old Chin Huai

  
These poems took a relative short time to complete. The first two were finalized on 17 Jan 2019.  The first poem was inspired along the lines of 歌醉銀河曲遍林from the previous poem, 

http://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2019/01/first-poem-of-2019.html

秦淮岸泊樂無窮, Unbounded joy as the boat is being moored to the banks of Chinhuai

明珠萬花夜通紅.Bright are the flaming pearls and flowers galore turning the night red

歌醉銀漢酒迷神,Songs inebriate the Milky Way and wine befuddles the soul.

金雞一叫碎人夢.One crowing of the golden cockerel shatters dreams of men.

Chinhuai (Qinhuai) was an adult Disneyland for ancient Chinese males.  Flaming pearls refer to the red lanterns burning bright throughout the night and flowers are the painted faces of courtesans in rogue. 神 can either mean the "spirit/soul" or the "gods"

Monday, January 14, 2019

何物可轉,甚事難移 - Things that can Change and Those that Cannot..
  
秦月昨夜又今晚, Once more, tonight's moon of the Chin times rose from last night,

東流江去水復難. Difficult it is for the east flowing waters returning to the same spot.

銀漢未移地先改, The Milky Way has yet to change but the mortal world already had.

寂寞仍舊仙界間. Still in the realm of immortals, loneliness remain.

Thursday, January 15, 2019

This one was inspired by the single character 秦 from the previous poem as I doodled on writing this character properly.  This in turn made me think of Wang Chang Lin's 秦時明月漢時関.

The next one came about because of one character change in the first line.  The rhyming scheme had to be changed because it happened at the last line.  Technically, it does not matter since the first line don't have to be rhymed.  However, I would like to push myself further and see what I can come up with. At the same time, to have some variation.

秦月昨夜又今宵 Once more, tonight's moon of the Chin times rose from last night,

東流江去水復潮 Gone is the east flowing river but the morning tide brought it back.

銀漢豈移恩仍舊 How can the Milky Way change when the Love remained the same?

飛燕長守廷陵寥 Like the flying swallow guarding eternally the loneliness at the Tomb of Prolongation.

The love in the Milky Way alludes to the legend of the Cowherd and the Divine Spinning Maid where they can only meet once a year.

In the Chinese mindset, Chao Fei Yen (Chao Flying Swallow) is better known for her beauty than her palace intrigues that took place in the Han Court of Emperor Cheng. When he died, her fortunes was like a burst of fireworks. From empress, she became a dowager empress as honored by the succeeding emperor. However, when he died, she was demoted back to empress and later sentenced to guard the tomb of her deceased husband. On that very day, she committed suicide than to face the loneliness of the place. Hence the last line is a sarcasm.

Continuing with the idea of 秦月漢時, and some doodling, here's one of a totally different nature.

初醒夢盡魂烟散 Upon wakening, my dream had ended;  my soul and haziness dissipated,

心神未清半身還 Half my body had returned and my mind befuddled.

脚踏雙界時一忘 Still straddled in both worlds, a momentarily forgetfulness beget,

陌道重見認識難 Even if we were to see each other again, strangers we're on a road newly travelled.

Wednesday, January 23, 2019