Another Variation of "When I Look at the Sky" - 另一個「當我看天時」的轉變

A variation on the same theme...

長門淒冷看秋月 The desolate Palace of the Long Gate looks at the autumn moon,
金屋寂寞夢昨日 Lonely House of Gold dreams of the yesteryears.
廣寒高上雖無伴 Although high above is the Lunar Palace of no companionship,
枝落鳳凰野雞鬱 Is far better than the despondence of the phoenix turning into an agrestic fowl.

When I look at the Sky - 當我看天時

Someone learning English on italki wrote the following poem,

When I Look at the Sky 

When I look at the sky at night
(This is one of my favorite moments)
There is like a sad face on the moon
Or maybe it's the reflection of how I feel when I look at the sky 

I edited to,

Upon the night sky I looked,
tis a favorite moment of mine.
Sad face on the moon I saw,
As I looked at the moon.
Perhaps, a reflected emotion of mine...

It is a nice imagery. So I decided to translate into a Classical Chinese poetic form but was unsuccessful because the cultural tone is so different. In the end, I gave up but I was inspired to write it from scratch using the theme of her first line.  In the end, the result is something that is totally different from what I had started.

1 銀夜看天醉樂時 It’s time to be merry and get drunk looking at a silvery night sky,
2 愁月寂寞廣寒綺  Beautiful is the Lunar Palace but sad and lonely.
3 未央曾經金屋夢 The Palace of Not-Quite-Zenith was once upon a House of Gold.
4 君心千里長門似 A thousand miles away my Lord’s heart is at and I am like in the Long Gate Palace.

1.Only in the later lines that we know “sky” represents the face of the Emperor and the moon, the Empress.

3. Not- Quite-In-Zenith means that it is still rising and flourishing. Once the zenith is reached, whatever afterwards is descendance. This palace is where Han Emperors lived. The “House of Gold” or the “Golden House” is an allusion of the story when Emperor Wu was still a child of six. He was instructed to say, “If I can marry Ah Chiao (阿嬌) I will build her a house of gold when asked by his aunt, the Princess Royal. Ah Chiao was the only child of hers. This aunt is the elder sister of Emperor Wen and favorite of their mother, the Empress Dowager. As a doting and filial son, whatever the mother wished, he will acquiesce. The Princess Royal was afraid that her position and influence will be diminished when the mother dies. She wanted to marry her daughter to the son of the Emperor’s favorite concubine and was rebuffed. In humiliation, she worked against her through Emperor Wu other consorts. Without this political marriage, Emperor Wu would not have ascended the throne.

4. Ah Chiao never bore the Emperor any children because of their frequent bickering. After the Grand Empress Dowager died and his power consolidated, he demoted Ah Chiao from her position of Empress and banished her to the Long Gate Palace and never set foot to see her again.

So this poem is about the time before she was banished from the Emperor’s abode.

Tuesday, September 24/25, 2019 

Life Is what Life Is

雲海上有夕陽紅 Upon the sea of clouds floats a red setting sun,
不刻沉沒人間夢 Too soon, sinking into the depths of mortal dreams

These two lines were inspired after seeing a photo of the red setting sun as if it was floating on a sea of clouds.  Unfortunately, I could not find the photo again...
I could not complete the next two lines.  After doodling with my brush calligraphy, lines began to form when the word Yoshiwara, 吉原 came into my mind and then "floating world"…

日落浮世燈火始 As the sun sets into the floating world, lights go up
客到暄嘩語歡時 Approaching guests - 'tis the time for cackling joys

歌舞琵琶三味綫 Songs and dances of the biwa and the shamisen
五更早來破夢綺 Too soon the fifth watch comes intruding into sweet sweet dreams.

I find that mixing Japanese elements in a Chinese poem is a bit odd and changes are made by changing the Japanese red-light district into its Chinese equivalent, the biwa into the pipa and the shamisen into the willow moon lute.

After three days of polishing...

1日落秦淮燈火始 When the sun sets upon the red-light district, lights go up,
2客到暄嘩笑語時 As guests arrive, it’s time of cackling joys.
3歌曲琵琶千杯少 Lute music and songs with endless cups, are not enough,
4五更銀盡別瑤池 By the fifth watch, the silver’s gone, paradise lost.

5莫怨仙子 無人味 Begrudged not the fairies without compassion,
6只怪凡夫愛物綺 But blame ye mortals love things beautiful.
7天庭何公地休平 How can heaven be just when the earth’s not level?
8自古萬象就如此 Since time immemorial, things are things as be.

1. 秦淮 – the red-light district of ancient China
2. The smiles of the mama-san
4. Day breaks on the fifth watch. A Chinese hour is equivalent to two western hours. Midnight is the third watch. “Silver” can mean the silvery light of the moon and if so, “By the fifth watch, the silvery moon is gone and paradise lost. However, from the context, silver a currency is more appropriate.

6. 愛 can also mean “want”
7. Reality of being human.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Another Mid-Autumn Festival

This Mid-Autumn poem was started on 01 Sep 2019 which falls on the 14th.  Took me nine days to finalize it...

銀滿中秋半天空 Half the Mid-Autumn sky aglow in silvery brightness,
邀約嫦娥詩酒逢 The invited Goddess of the Moon joins us in wine and poems.
家家歡聚戶戶樂 Every family in joyous reunion, each household in delight.
孰曉廣寒孤單夢 Who would think of lonely dreams in the Lunar Palace?

Another Seventh Night

鵲橋二仙又相逢 Upon the magpie bridge twain fairies once more met,

長生許諾綺誰夢 In whose dreams, pledges made in the Palace of Eternal Life shall primp?
馬嵬他日三尺隔 Like the day on Mawei Slope comes separating by a sash of three feet,
誓約惟在七夕重 Promises made on the Seventh Night are merely lies.

25 Aug - 29 Aug 2019