Forgotten

This poem was written sometime in 2019. Most probably it was inspired by the character 驟 from Li Ching Chao’s poem, 夜雨疏風驟，濃睡不消殘酒 since I don’t use it often. The skeletal poem was forgotten and its inception was buried in my brush writing piles until today when I happened to chance it. I am happy that it was finally finished today, unlike the main character in the poem, forgotten and neglected.

1風驟蝶飛倦 The butterfly is tired from flying in the sudden wind,

2雨疏聲滴亂 A light rain pitter-pattering me into inquietude.

3針刺對燭泣 The candle is weeping before the needlework,

4銀光難再緣 And the silvery light, no longer a matchmaker.

5何來君心意 Whence forth are my Lord’s feelings for me?

6舊情隔久遠 From the love that is so distant and so long ago.

7歌酒長樂伴 The songs and the wine -- the constant companions of joy,

8往日洞庭船 Were but from yesteryears – on a boat in the Tung Ting Lake.

3. This line can also be translated as, “Needles pierced into my heart, I wept by the candlelight”.

4. The silvery light of the moon. 難再緣 – Destiny is difficult [to come back again]

2019

Update

1風驟蝶飛倦 Tired butterfly in the sudden wind,

2雨後聲滴亂 The after rain pitter-pattering me into inquietude.

3針刺對燭泣 Into weeping candle as I needle worked,

4殘月鵲橋斷    The morning moon wanes as the magpie bridge breaks

5何來君心意 Whence forth are my Lord’s feelings for me?

6夢遇舊情怨 Fretting over a dream met so long ago.

7歌酒常樂伴 The wine songs -- the constant companions of joy,

8曾經洞庭船 Were once upon a boat on Lake Tung Ting.

1,2. Inspired from 李清照’s   昨夜雨疏風驟   

3. This line can also be translated as, “Needles pierced into my heart, I wept by the candlelight”. Most probably the theme of the needlework is a pair of Mandarin ducks, symbolizing eternal love as she remembered the good old days.

4. The “crippled moon”,  the almost faded moon still seen in the morning sky disappearing.  The Bridge is an allusion to the Chinese Tale of “the Heavenly Spinning Maid and the Cowherd”.  They are allowed to meet once a year on the 7^th night of the 7^th Month of the lunar calendar when the stars Altair and Vega are at their closest. The bridge is formed from magpies.

7. I prefer the way how 常 is written with a brush.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020