Approaching Valentine 2020

Valentine 2020 is approaching…

01寒來暑往十六逢 The winter cold came and the summer heat went, we met at sixteen,
02半世流光似夢中 Half our lifetimes seemed like living in a dream.
03月下相敬莫須言 Nary a word needed as we toast each other under the moonlight,
04酒未到唇先初紅 The wine had yet to touch our lips, our first blushes had begun.

This is not the only interpretation as many supporting details are left out. It is up to the reader to fill in the blanks. Western poetry is like watching a movie, one is under the influence of interpretation of the director. Chinese poems, on the other hand is like reading a book, invoking imagery of your own interpretation.

1.The first four characters come from the Thousand Character Classic. Its literal translation is “the heat came and the cold went”; It represents the coming and going of summer and winter -- no ambiguity here. The last three characters are problematic because some details are left out. It could mean that “summer and winter had met sixteen times, “sixteen years had passed”, “the subjects met at sixteen”, “met at an early age”, “they met for 16 times” or even “met on the 16th day of the month”. From the context of the second line, we know it cannot mean the date.

2.There is no ambiguity here, “we had such great time as if we were in a dream”. Still we don’t know which of the other cases are valid. However, this is not important.

3. In general, 相敬 means mutual respect. 敬 here means to lift a cup in toast. This is confirmed in the last line. No word is needed for this merriment for they understand each other so well.

4. The wine has not touched their lips and signs of a flush had begun. Are they reminiscing of their first encounter in their youthful days? Or that their love is as if they had just met yesterday?

Thursday, January 23, 2020