Success Changeth the Man - 獨佔鼇頭人心變

Every outsider sings praises of the beauty of the virtuous wife at each official function.  Truth be known that a garden flower is no match for the wild ones.  Men are hollow -- just look at the revelry spent throughout the night on the ship after the obligatory gestures are over.

The wife reminisces the poverty days of yore.  At least there was time spent in togetherness and making sure everything is to his comfort and to encourage that success is a distant sight whenever he is down. Suddenly that one day came… His hopes and hers were realized.  Though not the number one, life is at least on easy street.  How wrong she was to think of such ideals; now realizing that love had been traded for material comfort.

1每逢中秋捧月美 High praises for the lunar beauty when each Mid-Autumn comes around,

2銀光難比胭脂媚 Alas its silvery light is no match for the seductive rouge.

3空虛人心一瞭知 One look from above, hollowness of human hearts is known,

4酒樂歌歡船頭尾 In song and wine all over the boat.

5嬋娟殷勤書朗照 Solicitously she shines for his study,

6蟾宮籬隔遠萬里 The Palace just beyond the fence is of ten thousand miles away.

7廣寒探花桂枝折 To the Great Cold, Number Three scholar comes breaking the osmanthus brow,

8嫦娥寂寞何足奇 The Lunar Goddess still in loneliness – no surprise here.

1捧:to lift high

2 家花不比野花香 Garden flowers never more desirous as wild flowers – What you don’t possess is more desirous.

4樂:can be joy or music depending on its reading.  船頭尾:The prow and the rear of the boat.

5嬋娟: A lunar personification a girl. Depending on 書朗 or 朗照 is grouped,  it can be translated as, “… as he recites his passages”

6蟾宮:The Toad Palace, another term for the moon.  It is believed that this three-legged toad resides with the white rabbit, the osmanthus tree and the Goddess of the moon.

7探花: The Number Three Scholar. 狀元 and 榜眼, being the top two respectively.

8嫦娥: Chang-O, goddess of the moon

Monday, December 09, 2019

Unsatiated - 不足

This one was came from a line from https://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2019/12/untitled.html

無谷山何有 Where are the mountains when there are no valleys,
高處水流急 In high places, water flows in hurried swiftness..
人生不足求 Life's satiation never satisfied,

更滴錦繡浥 Will only bring greater tears to rich brocades.

On A Rainy Day 雨日上

Today, Wednesday, December 04, 2019 was a rainy day. It came with a vengeance and too soon, whimpered like a whisper of a departing lover.  So, when sunshine peeked out of the clouds languorously,  I went for my mundane daily jog.  The road was wet and the air, pure and fresh.  Alone I went, alone in thoughts when words came a calling…

雨過土濕獨步閑 The rains had passed, the ground is wet and in leisure I strolled,

湖岸靜思烟鎖橫 Deep in thoughts, enshrouded in dense fog by the lakes's banks.

船頭不聲豁然露 When in a sudden flash, the boat’s prow appeared,

冲破沆瀣再無煩 Slicing through the mists, no longer in vexation.

When the context is clear, Chinese is a pronoun dropping language.  Unless there is no other interpretation, pronouns can be added for fluency in the target language as in the first line.  However, in the last line, unless one knows exactly what the poet had in mind, adding pronouns won't be appropriate at all as it can imply the boat passengers are relieved to see the banks.

Old Flame - 舊情

1 弦歌酒宴舉目同 Banquet music of the zithers rose, our eyes met at the same time,

2 猶豫曾似昨夜夢 In hesitation, as if a dream from last night.

3 暗淚先滴杯未落 Secret tears a trickled even before the wine cup is at rest,

4 梅雨無聲雪地紅 Silent plum blossom rain, staining the snow-covered ground in red.

5 一春十六牡丹盛 One spring of sixteen, when peonies are blossoming in profusion,

6 亭外兩心蝶戀逢 Ill-met are the two hearts of butterfly lovers by the pavilion.

7 可恨今世女兒身 Spiteful is this life of a girl’s body,

8 遺憾樓高困彩鳳 The regrets of a multi-colored phoenix; in the high tower imprisoned.

1.Taken and adapted from a line in Thousand Character Classic (千字文) 弦歌酒宴, 接杯舉觴

5. An allusion to The Peony Pavilion 牡丹亭 where the hero dreamt of the heroine. The play was considered obscene because of free choice of love which goes against the grain of Confucian ethics.

6. Another allusion – The Butterfly Lovers, Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet.

7.  Women in ancient China are considered as properties of the parents, then the husband when married and then of the sons if the father is gone.  However, there are loopholes because of filial piety.  There are many strong women in the long history of China.  The most famous being Empress  Wu, who broke many precedents and gave much equality to the fairer sex.

8. Unmarried girls are resided in the highest location of the house.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Untitled - 無題

1山高溪流急 Mountains high; streams floweth in hurriedness,

2雲低雨滴閑 Clouds low; rain falling indolently.

3舟渡苦海深 Surging forth deeply into the ocean, is a little boat,

4遠聞鐘聲寒 Cold sounds of bells heard wafting from afar.

5人心不足息 Insatiable is the human heart,

6罪惡紅塵間 Filling the vulgar world in sin.

7長江東盡去 Eastwards the long river flows till its demise,

8水覆再難返 ’tis impossible for poured water runneth back [to its cup].

3 Chinese Buddhism views life as a sea of bitterness.

4 Bells here refer to those tolling in a Buddhist temple.   苦海無邊, 回頭是岸 The Sea of Bitterness has no end; Going back, will be the shore, a Buddhist saying about repentance.

6. 紅塵: Red dust, Buddhist term for the mundane world of mortals.

7. Referring to the Yangtze Kiang.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

West Lake Old Reminisces - 西湖舊憶

艇過銀波寒宮寂 The skiff had left the silvery waves and the cold Lunar Palace is alone,

無聲卷留攕月色 Leaving in silence, ripples in undulation shattering the moonlight.

水動光浮何人目 Floating light upon the moving waters for whom to see?

雷峰舊映有誰憶 Old reflections of the Thunder Peak Pagoda, none remembered.

Thunder Peak Pagoda is where Madame White Snake was imprisoned after she killed thousands of innocents when she cause the river to course up the mountain to flood the Temple of the Golden Mountain to free her imprisoned husband from the clutches of the self-righteous abbot.  

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

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Encouragement - 晨鐘暮鼓

1 白雲青山過 White clouds over the green hills passed,

2 紅葉紫泉流 Red leaves upon the purple springs floweth.

3 路遙馬亦倦 The road is long and even the horses are tired,

4 桃源各自求 To each his own, his Peach Source sought.

5 朗月飛霜冷 The moon is bright and flurrying snow is cold,

6 廣寒寂寞樓 Towers of the Great Frigid  Palace are alone.

7 桂枝為誰折 Osmanthus bough for whom to break?

8 十年窗苦瘦 Those lean decade of arduous study by the window.

1 White clouds, green hills: old age and youth.

2 Purple springs: fairy pools; Red maple leaves: an allusion from the story of "The Wondrous Tale of the Red Leaf", 紅葉奇緣

3 Horses: those helping

4 Peach Source: paradise, allusion to 桃源記

5 Remnants of a snowstorm and the clouds are gone.

6 The lunar palace where the goddess of the moon lives.

7 Breaking the osmanthus bough – success in gaining officialdom through passing the imperial exams.

8 窗苦:  So poor that one has to study by the moonlight by the window.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Romance of the Green Bowers - 青樓然

This inspiration comes from a friend lamenting his comings and goings, make no difference in loneliness.  He's a flight attendant.

1 來去匆速總是空 In the end, fast comings and quick goings are just empty promises,

2 流光碎影莫待紅 Time floweth; shattered shadows, nary rosiness awaited.

3 桃花一朝風催落 One day cometh; falling peach blossoms withered by the wind,

4 曾經嫦娥此寒宮 O former Goddess of the moon of this cold cold palace…

5 黄金艷色永無退 Gold forever seductive -- never tarnishes,

6 白玉瑕缺終須逢 White jade flaws -- eventually met,

7 微溫燭淚夜常伴 Feeble warmth and candle tears, my nightly companions,

8 鑒世己擁作綺夢 Embracing my worldly reflections as sweet sweet dreams.

2. 紅,red can refer to the rouge or the rosiness of youth.

3. Peach blossom comes in many different shades of red.

4. 嫦娥, the moon goddess lives in the palace called “The Great Cold”.

7. Candle tears – literary term for dripping wax.

8. 鑒 – highly polished bronze surfaces used as mirrors in ancient China and the meaning is extended to “reflections of oneself”. As verb, to view, or observe.

 

Thursday, 14 November 2019

The Romance of the Red Leaf - 紅葉奇緣

This is a story about a poor young scholar during the reign of Tang Hsi Tsung (唐僖宗) who by chance picked up a large red leaf in the imperial moat.  He was surprised to see that there was a poem written on it,

 

水流何太急 The water’s flowing too fast,

深宮盡日閑 Inside the imperial palace, all day with nothing to do.

殷勤謝紅葉 Profusely I thank this red leaf,

好去到人間 With Godspeed to the world of commoners.

The young scholar fell in love with this unknown poetess after reading such melancholy and could not part with it.  So, he kept the leaf.  He then picked another red leaf and wrote a poetic reply.  He walked to the upper stream and let it float into the palace,

曾聞葉上題紅怨 Upon the leaf a beauty’s lament heard,

葉上題詩寄阿誰 For whom this leaf poem thou dost go?

  

He thought no more of the incident when he did not find any reply later.  The following year, the scholar took the imperial exams but did not obtain top honors.  His ambitions sank and gave up on his dreams.  Life still has to go on and he became a private tutor in the household of an official in the capital.  Later, a group of “over-aged” palace ladies were retired and were let go to seek their fortunes.  In the group was a distant relative to the official.  She was about thirty years of age, very elegant and beautiful.  From this connection, the scholar eventually won her hand and lived happily.  

Years later, while cleaning her husband’s studio, she found the red leaf poem in a box.  She demanded the meaning of this from the husband. The confronted husband had no choice but to tell her the truth.  The wife sighed and left for her room.  She then came back, holding a red leaf.  On it was another poem written as reply.  She did not send it knowing the futility of her whimsical action in the first place...

獨步天溝岸 By the imperial banks, I stroll in loneliness,

臨流得葉時 A time bringeth me to this leaf.

此情誰會得 For whom this love begets?

斷腸一聯詩 Woeful ‘tis but a couplet poem.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Ode to the Mochi

白灘橋一渡 Through the white sands is a bridge to cross,
青海眼前浩 Vastness is the ocean blue ahead.
今日勤學有 Today’s diligent studies,
明朝盡頭無 Tomorrow’s unlimited success.

 青海, The Blue Ocean is also name of a person. Thus the line means that his future vast success that is in front of him only if he crosses the bridge of diligent study.

   

One Pot Hot -- 一壺熱

 The title was the starting inspiration.  The original idea was that when snowflakes fall upon the warm pot, they dissolve and like tears flow from it.  However, I could not think of the words to convey the idea.  Perhaps sometime in the future.

雪影寒飛一壺熱 Snowflake shadows flutter in the cold and one pot hot, 
寂寞朗照無緣結 Shining brightly in loneliness but not destined.
心冰淚冷總是夢 The heart is frosted and tears - icicle cold but in the end, still a dream,
舉杯嗟餘難對月 A cup lifted in sighs, unable to bear looking at the moon.

Friday, November 08, 2019

Across From From Each Other

 

 

1 弦歌酒宴舉目同 Banquet music of the zithers rose, our eyes met at the same time,
2 猶豫曾似昨夜夢 In hesitation, as if a dream from last night.
3 暗淚先滴杯未落 Secret tears a trickled even before the wine cup is at rest,
4 梅雨無聲雪地紅 Silent plum blossom rain, staining the snow-covered ground in red.

5 一春十六牡丹盛 One spring of sixteen, when peonies are blossoming in profusion,

6 亭外兩心蝶戀逢 Ill-met are the two hearts of butterfly lovers by the pavilion.
7 可恨今世女兒身 Spiteful is this life of a girl’s body,
8 遺憾樓高困彩鳳 The regrets of a multi-colored phoenix; in the high tower imprisoned.

1.Taken and adapted from a line in Thousand Character Classic (千字文) 弦歌酒宴, 接杯舉觴

5. An allusion to The Peony Pavilion 牡丹亭 where the hero dreamt of the heroine. The play was considered obscene because of free choice of love which goes against the grain of Confucian ethics.

6. Another allusion – The Butterfly Lovers, Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet.

7. Women in ancient China are considered as properties of the parents, then the husband when married and then of the sons if the father is gone. However, there are loopholes because of filial piety. There are many strong women in the long history of China. The most famous being Empress Wu, who broke many precedents and gave much equality to the fairer sex.

8. Unmarried girls are resided in the highest location of the house.

31 Oct 2019

A Shade's Lament - 幽魂怨

1 花凋雁飛惡夢似 Like a bad dream, the flowers had withered and the swans flown,
2 昨夜東君春眠侍 Springtime of last night’s slumber, serving my Lord of the East Wind.
3 朗月復回人未必 The bright moon returns but perhaps not the person, 
4 此行莫非恩盡時 This journey of now is because of love no more?

5 千載萬刼年一渡 Aeons passing but only once a year crossed, 
6 鵲橋今宵絕無疑 Without doubt, tonight’s the night of the Magpie Bridge.
7 凡世三秋仙界日 In the mortal world of three autumns passed, but a day in the fairy realm,
8 稍候重見何難事 How difficult is it to see each other again in a few hours more?

1. The Eastern Bean Goose. Swan has a better imagery in western thought. They symbolize love because of their fidelity towards each other,
2. Chinese Zephyr, God of the flowers. A dream meeting with the lover.
3.  Implying, once dead will never become alive again, unlike the moon or immortals.
4. Indicating the journey of the dead from deduced from the first line.
5. Kalpa, the time between creation and recreation of the universe - in Hinduism – 4.32 billion years. In Buddhism, a regular one is 16.798 million years and a great one is 1.344 trillion.
6. The bridge formed by magpies for the stars of Altair (Cowherd) and Vega (Spinning Maid) for their reunion.
7. It is believed that a day in heaven is equivalent to three years on earth.
8. A Chinese hour is equivalent of two modern hours. Meeting four times in a heaven’s day is better than none for the author who is already in the land of the dead where there is no daylight to speak of.

The Vampire Waltz

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Anne of A Thousand Days - 千日皇后

This was inspired upon seeing the blue rug that costs $1000 not three years ago at a friend's party for a condo housewarming in near downtown San Diego.  And not yet three years complete, an outdoor rug.  I felt sorry for its plight.

往日千金毯 Once it was a thousand gold piece carpet, 
今刻門前藉 But of now, a door front rug.
可憐寵時速 Alas, the time of being favorite went too fast, 
兩年餘謫劇 Just shy of three years, another tale of banishment.

10 Dec 2016

05 Oct 2016

On Human Nature 聆音察理, 鍳貌辨色

This poem came about as I was practising how to write 觀 better for my Chinese calligraphy practice.  Still much practice is needed. Sigh....

1 聆音察理曉哀樂 Listen to the sounds - the joys and pains be known,
2 聞章辨色見人心 Smell the essays to determine it tones and colors of the heart be seen.
3 凡性莫測何難解 Unfathomable mortal behavior is not difficult to gauge,
4 上流下落低處深 Like water flows from high to low, where the lowest is the deepest. 

1. Taken from the Thousand Character Classic.

2. Also from the Thousand Character Classic and adaptation to an allusion from “Smelling Essays”, a story in “Strange Stories in a Chinese Studio”. Two friends went sightseeing in a mountain as they headed out for the Imperial Examinations. There they heard that a blind monk living there can tell how good an essay was written by smelling as it being burnt. Out of curiosity, they went to test the monk out. When the first essay was burning, the monk exclaimed that it was a piece of rapturous refinement and beauty that he had ever smelt. When the second one was burnt, the monk grew angry complaining why he was given such a sumptuous feast and now being served with a piece of crap. A year later, the one who wrote the foul essay became the Number One Scholar and since he was on his way back to his hometown, he decided to confront the monk for being a charlatan. The monk retorted that he was just commenting on the quality of essays but not on one’s fate! The moral of the story is that the blind can see better than those with eyes.

3. On the lines of, “it is easy to get rich in the stock market – just buy low and sell high.” The crux is just “when”.

4. 上流 also mean the “elite” – the superior man and 下落,“whereabouts”, “to mock”, “the base”, “the dregs”. The meaning of the last line is that even gentleman will fall from grace and beware that those with the basest character are “still water runs deep”.

It was one of those rare occasions that I had enough inspiration to compose two poems in a day!

Floating Mountain - 浮山

This one was inspired by a photo of Mt. Baldy which a friend took on a trip.

浮山雲海中 A floating mountain in midst of a sea of clouds, 
披戴翠綠松 Donning robes of green green pines.
留戀仙界閑 Left my heart in the leisure of the fairy realm, 
逃脱紅塵重 Escaped from the weight of the mundane world.

Monday, October 07, 2019

Favored Status - 寵幸

This poem was inspired at a party attended on 05 Oct 2019. I saw a blue rug costing $1000 that was placed out in the patio! I remembered once it was adorned in the living room. I felt sad about its plight.

往日千金毯 Once it was a thousand gold piece carpet,
今刻門前藉 But of now, a door front rug.
可憐寵時速 Alas, the time of being favorite went too fast,
兩年餘謫劇 Just shy of three years, another tale of banishment.

07 Oct 2019

10 Dec 2016  

05 Oct 2019

Vacuity of Life - 人世空虚

1 南柯夢盡一生去 The Dream of the Southern Bough has ended and a life is gone,
2莊蝶醒悟重舊虛 The Butterfly of Chuang Tzu awakened and life’s repeating vacuity grasped.
3月朗高照點途明 High up is the bright moon enlightening my journey,
4普渡苦海來世許 Across the Ocean of Bitterness, salvation of my future life be allowed.

The idea of 朗 came from the Thousand Character Classic.

1 Dream of the Southern Bough
2 The Butterfly Dream
3. It would be redundant for 明 to mean “bright” since 朗 had been used.
4 Buddhist view that life is but a sea of bitterness that has to be transcended and to escape from the trials and tribulations of life by breaking one’s eternal cycle of reincarnation.

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

Palace Sorrow - 宮怨

Just a mental exercise and to practise my brush writing...

烟雨濛瀧上路人, Misty rains upon travellers of the road,
頭低志喪氣無神. Heads a-droop in dejectedness.
雕車簾垂入宮門, As the carved carriage journeyed into the palace gates,
始今世絕隔外塵. From now on, ties with the outside world severed.

夜幻朝朝君主侍, Nights imagined that I will be serving my Lord each morning,
日念暮暮父母恩. Days thinking of my parental love for me at each night.
滴滴流光碎夢界, Droplets of time slowly shattering my dream world,
茫茫歲月伴星辰. Unending years go by with starlight as my companion.

上路 can also be a euphemism for “to die”.Tuesday, 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Joshua Tree National Park

My first time in Joshua Tree National Park was in 18, May 2018. The reason being that I have never seen the real Milky Way in my life. Seeing it in movies or in the planetarium does not count. It was on a lonely road that night that I laid right in the middle of it so that I don’t have to cringe on my neck. I did not feel the road was hard for my back at all. Finally, when the setting sun was totally gone, the darkness of the sky was marred by distant city lights and a crescent moon. At the same time, my eyesight is not as good as it used to be. Still, I enjoyed the quietude of the place, the warmth emanating from the asphalt and a coalescing poem in my mind… At least something to take back home with,

雲無千里星萬點, Cloudless for a thousand miles and a stretch of countless stars,
瀝青道路塵不嫌. Nary any dust upon the asphalt road.
躺臥觀天温氣升, I see the heavens; I feel the rising heat as I laid on it.
月鉤伴盡醉夢甜. The crescent moon with me to the end, savoring this sweet drunken dream. 

Almost a year later on the last day of July, I was back again, although at a different side of the park. This time is was a moonless light. It was a much better night – no city lights as well. There were many more stars than the last time and I could detect the faintness of the Milky Way. I am sure my eyesight wasn’t any better than the last time. Once more, I had forgotten to bring my binoculars but again, laid right smack in the middle of the road. It was a warm night even though there was no heat emanating from the asphalt. A very much more enjoyable time than the previous one and hopefully so is this new poem,

夜闌月去看星河, The moon is gone and I stared into the Milky Way one late night,
萬點爭輝起風波. Myriad starlight vying with each other causing the wind and waves.
矇朧一時無限恨, A moment of befuddlement, an eternal regret,
老人眼前昨日歌. Before an old man’s eyes but a song of yesterday.

今宵銀漢仍如初,Tonight’s Milky Way is the same as before,
只是路人道中臥. Only through eyes of a traveller laying on the road.
視覺昏花難比舊, Sight of now cannot be compared to the days of old,
一片糢糊樂在何. A blurry stretch and joy of whence comes?

The first stanza is about Emperor Hsuan Tsung thinking of Yang Guifei. 長恨歌 is encrypted in there. The second stanza is about me. 

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Still Another Old Poem Update

The original was written on 17 Sep 2018.  I was approaching Death Valley in the car from a faraway distance and saw a sandstorm racing across the valley floor towards the purple colored mountains that were enshrouded in a purple haze.

橫掃塵飛西北風 Sweeping unbridled and kicking up the dust is the north-west wind. 
沙漠天邊紫山逢 The edge of the desert meets the faraway purple mountains,

萬里歸期初步始 The first step of  my ten-thousand-mile journey home begins,
何日得聽雨濛瀧 When oh when do I hear the misty rains?

Then minor changes were made later in the day,

橫掃西北萬里風 Across ten thousand miles, the unbridled northwestern wind swept,
沙漠塵飛紫山逢 Kicking up the desert dust till the purple mountains met.

何日歸期初步始 When oh when will the first step of journeying home begin?
眠中醉聽雨濛瀧 My Dreams are the inebriating sounds of misty rains.

Almost a year later, came this update...

1 橫掃西北萬里風 Across ten-thousand miles, the unbridled northwestern wind swept,

2 沙河塵飛千日重 Kicking up dust from the sandy rivers, a thousand days of weight upon me.

3 問天歸期未有期 Asking Heaven if there’s a date of return,

4 雨在故鄉醉濛瀧 Rains upon hometown in my drunken mistiness.

5 烟雲夢碎戰鼓乍 Sudden thundering war drums shatter my dream of the wind and clouds,

6 沉月光殘燭泣紅 The descending moon; its light weakening; the candle weeps in red.

7 何畏胡蹄數百匹 What’s there to fear? Just only a few hundred barbarian hooves,

8 惟恐今宵難早逢 But worrying that our meeting tonight won’t be early enough.

 Notes: 

1: Can be interpreted as subduing the northwest easily like the wind blowing across the landscape.

2. This is ambiguous.  重 with a change in tone means "again" or "repeated" - that each and everyday is like any other, mundane scenery of dust storms.

3.  With a change of the first two characters, the rest of line is taken from Li Shang Yin's 君問歸期未有期, 巴山夜雨漲秋池...

6. Chinese candles are red in color.  White ones are reserved for funerals. The dripping wax is like tears, burning its life away. 

7. Hooves can either mean those of the horses or the barbarians.