Lost Youth - 高飛年華

Ji Qingyan from Facebook’s Page of Chinese Poetry wrote a poem:

廿三自述

锦瑟拂思弦色泠，年华回首始堪惊。
遥期中岁云霄阔，漫对朽儒江海平。
难老终将成易老，多情却总作无情。
此生函谷西边寄，梦海萦纡烟水青。

His first two lines reminded me of Li Shanyin’s poem, 錦瑟.

錦瑟無端五十弦，一弦一柱思華年。
莊生曉夢迷蝴蝶，望帝春心託杜鵑。
滄海月明珠有淚，藍田日暖玉生煙。
此情可待成追憶？只是當時已惘然。

He later told me that it was indeed he was inspired by his first two lines. And so, thanks to Qingyan -- I too would try my paltry hand. My inspirational lines were

寒音五十段
條條撥心亂

1錦瑟挑撥亂 Plucking, strumming the zither in haphazardness,
2寒音五十段 Cold sounds in fifty parts.
3熱壺三兩杯 Pot of calescence but of two three cups,
4難使碎心暖 Could hardly warm this broken heart.

5花香逼人甚 Besetting is the rheumatic scent of flowers,
6月冷刺骨酸 And the moon’s cold pierces my very marrow.
7年華總是淚 Youth in the end are also tears.
8醉夢殷勤勸 So, let drunken dreams be my meticulous solace.

1. 挑撥 can also mean “to incite disharmony”.

2. The zither generally has twenty-five strings. The sounds produced by the two techniques adds up to fifty.

3. The pot of wine being warmed up.