Ethereal Dreams - 烟雨夢

 

This poem was originally written on Thursday, May 18, 2017.  I didn't feel like it was good enough to be posted until I had updated it three years later.

1.水眠銀月船舟破 The silvery moon upon the sleepy waters shattered by boats,
2.搖搖自閑酒客多 To and fro in leisure, merrymakers come aplenty.
3.日上三竿靜如夢 Now that the sun is three poles high, all’s quiet like a dream,
4.烟雨秦淮昨夜歌 Of rain and mists, a Qinhuai’s song of last night.

1.The reflected moon

2.The boats are swaying lazily with customers.

3. The midday sun

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinhuai_River Liaisons are ethereal and lasts as long as money is there to be spent.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Upon Seeing The Jade Gate Frontier Pass - 玉門関望

This was inspired from my translation of this English poem, “Do not stand at my grave and weep” that was posted on the WeChat English group.  The inspired words were 鳥哭圜飛. 

1.日落冉冉絕天藍 The sunset gradually strips away the heavenly blue,

2.血似雲霞隔別難 Blood red-like clouds making the separation even more difficult.

3.流砂走石雪梅紅 Flowing sands runneth like plum blossom red against the snow,

4.鳥哭圜泣更淒慘 Encircling birds calls – their cries echoing even more fretful.

5.漢時銀月依然舊 The silvery moon of the Han times still look the same,

6.惟今世代看關閑 But in this day and age, upon the fortress of indolent stare.

7.歲月無情亦有情 Unfeeling is the flow of time and yet, not so heartless,

8.又見重飛塞外雁 Far beyond the frontier pass, flying geese once more seen.

2.Referring to the separation of life and death as reminded by the blood red clouds

3.Plum blooms best in the harshest cold and the windswept desert sand are like them against the background snow.

4.Circling vultures encircling the unburied dead?

5.This fort was built during the reign of Emperor Han Wu Ti.

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yumen_Pass

7. Literally, “yearly moon” – the moon, year after year to denote time.  Time is the destroyer of memories, whether it be good or bad.  Whatever grievances of a thousand years ago no longer matters today.

8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geese_in_Chinese_poetry

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Midnight Stars - 夜半星

Woke up in the middle of the night and this line came into my mind, 五月花香夜横星,In the month of May, flowers are fragrant as the stars swept the sky.

1.榴月闌干夜橫星 In the month of May stars crisscrossing in nightly profusion,
2.幾道燦爛銀飛影 A few streaks of silvery brightness are now but shadows.
3.空山無語醉夢眠 The mountains are silent in slumbering drunken dreams.
4.長江不斷水流靜 Still the Yangtze in unbroken quiet flows.

1.Pomegranate Month is the poetic term for May. 欄杆 means banister or railing.

2.The first two weeks is the best time in the northern hemisphere to view the eta Aquariids meteors. The rate decreases afterwards.

3.The first four characters were a little help from the computer.

4. The original text is “long river”.

Monday, May 18, 2020

One Personal Experience

This is a personal experience that I need to express myself in  words... Along the lines of 辛棄疾's 驀然回首,那人却在,燈火闌珊處 Suddenly my head turned, that person is there, in the shadows of the lantern lights.

一笑盡散夢中纒 Just one smile to dispel all entanglements in a dream,

初遇無份兩相見 Nary a destiny between us when we first saw each other.

高舉金杯共誰飲 Golden goblet raised high but for whom to drink with,

月下寒影殷勤獻 Just a cold moonlit shadow in attentive offer.

流光匆速來秋去 Time flows fast -- the approaching autumn is gone,

今夜除夕又四年 And tonight, a New Year Eve of four years since.

群眾矇矓酒意歡 Amidst the crowd, in tipsy eyes glazed in mistiness,

驀然故顏罔己現 When suddenly in self-deluding state, a former face appeared.

Thursday, 14 May 2020

Two Versions of Flower Moon

This was inspired by an evening jog. I saw an autumnal bright silvery full moon shining over a thin layer of purple mists and underneath it was the clear blue sky. It was very beautiful. Unfortunately, I did not have my cell phone with me to take a picture. Later, I found out that this evening was the super flower moon of 2020… 

The full moon in May is known as the Flower Moon because spring flowers start to bloom.

Version I

1.蓬萊玉蟾紫霞烟 Over the Immortal Isles, the Jade Toad in misty purple,
2.瑤池黃昏青鳥現 And in the twilight of the Jasper Pools, blue birds appear.
3.待盡鬱愁燭影真 The melancholy candle shadow in wait is the only thing of real,
4.歸時針刺三秋獻 When thou hast returned, embroidery of three autumns presented.

5.風擎鵲橋一意強 Of one mind, the wind braces the Magpie Bridge,
6.雨打鳳台兩心堅 Pounding rain upon the Phoenix Terrace, two unassailable hearts beat.
7.共同醉夢芙蓉帳 A same inebriated dream still shared under the hibiscus canopy,
8.千緒萬情從何言 Moods of a thousand, emotions a myriad of whence I begin?

1. One of the isles on the Eastern Ocean where immortals made their abode. The three-legged lunar toad symbolizes the moon. Purple mists is a sign of fairness in a place.

2. The Jasper Pools are believed to be in Mt. Kunlun where the Queen Mother of the West resides. Her messengers are the blue birds. Twilight here does not mean dusk, but the demise of the immortal abode.

4. Three autumns – three years or many years.

5. Once a year on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, magpies disappear from the earth to form a bridge so that the ill-fated romance of the Cowherd and the Spinning can cross the Milky Way for their once a year reunion.

6a. From the lines of Li Po’s poem,

鳳凰台上鳳凰遊,  Upon the Phoenix Terrace, Phoenixes come and go,
鳳去台空江自流. Gone are the phoenixes, the Terrance empty but the river still in flow. 

b. During the Age of Warring States, the favorite daughter of the Duke of Chin declared to her father that she would marry the one whom she heard his flute playing one night from a nearby mountain and did a duet with him on her flute. When he was located, they were married and the father built for them the Phoenix Terrace as his flute skills were so great that birds come a flocking.
    
After ten happy years, under his tutelage, she became his equal. One day, they played so beautifully together that a pair of phoenixes descended. They mounted on them and flew away as immortals. Obviously, this is not the same Terrace that Li Po had ascended to compose his poem as a millennia had elapsed.

7. High quality bed curtains dyed with hibiscus flowers. In one story, it implies the bedroom curtains are dotted with the deflowered blood droplets of his victims or conquests. 

Version II

During one of the earlier revisions of the poem, 白兔 was used in the first line to symbolize the moon. 兔 has the same pronunciation as 吐 and so it was a challenge for me to see how the poem changes and so the second version is the result.

蓬萊白吐紫霞烟 Purple mists from the Immortal Isles spewed in vain,
瑤池黃謝青鳥現 Jasper Pools withering yellow for the blue birds’ appearance.
待盡鬱愁無音信 Of news I strained in melancholy wait,
已隔三秋君莫見 Already three autumns had passed, nary a glimpse of thee.

鵲橋二仙七夕逢 Upon the Magpie Bridge, the Twin Fairies on the Seventh night in reunion,
鳳台空影一心堅 Shadows of an empty Phoenix Terrace, one heart beats in conviction.
共同醉夢芙蓉帳 A same inebriated dream still shared under the hibiscus canopy,
千意萬情從何言 Thoughts of a thousand, emotions a myriad of whence I begin?

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

After Success - 功名後

Another jogging inspiration...

1.日上三竿汗滴花 The sun climbs towards noon and sweat beads in profusion,
2.心靜自然緣何怕 A heart in calm and there’s nothing to be afraid of.
3.夢難入寢亭外臥 When dreams into the bedroom becomes difficult, by the pavilion lay,
4.雲騰高升近月華 Soaring upon high clouds to lunar magnificence neared.
5.仙樂迎迎桂枝折 Celestial music a welcome the osmanthus bough break,
6.鰲頭勿釣三足蛤 Alone upon the turtle’s head, fish not for the three-legged toad.
7.民情應盡殷勤顧 With utmost meticulous care for the people,
8.若背聖言臭天下 And if saintly teachings not heeded, mired everywhere in stench you become.

1.花 – complex patterns.

5. Breaking the osmanthus bough – becoming the number one scholar

6.The 鰲 is a mythical sea turtle with a dragon-like head. The number one scholar will stand in front of the imperial sculpture as honors are conferred. The three-legged toad is a mythical lunar denizen. Legend has it that its stomach contains unlimited amount of gold coins.

Saturday, May 02, 2020

The God of Literature standing on the 鰲’s head while kicking the Big Dipper.

Autumn Moon Night Zither - 秋琴月夜

This came about as I was doodling with my brush writing practice...

風過無處不飛橫 Nowhere the wind goes without things fluttering around,

惟在黃花地滿閑 That is where yellow flowers had fallen upon the ground.

琴亂奈解心頭結  How can the chaotic zither music ease the achy heart?

月高雲低夢入難 Dreams are difficult when the moon is high and clouds lying low.

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Three Tang Poems

船夜援琴 - 白居易 Night Zither on a Boat. Po Chu-I 

鳥棲魚不動，Birds a-nest, fish inert,
夜月照江深。A moonlit night, befell the river deep
身外都無事，A silent world,
舟中只有琴。but for the zither upon the boat.

七絃為益友，My good friends - its seven strings,
兩耳是知音。And my ears know them well.
心靜聲即淡，My heart at ease, their sounds grow dim,
其間無古今。In this span of time, neither past nor present exists.

韋莊: 金陵圖 Wei Chuang: Paintings Of the Golden Mound

誰謂傷心畫不成 Sez who can’t paint the broken hearted successfully?
畫人心遂世人情 The artist merely follows the wishes of those patrons.
君看六幅南朝事 However, just look carefully upon each view from the Six Dynasties,
老木寒雲滿故城 Are but of ancient trees and clouds of cold engulfing this former capital. 

Thursday, April 30, 2020

1.登金陵鳳凰台 Upon Ascending The Phoenix Terrace of the Golden Mound

2.鳳凰台上鳳凰遊, Upon the Phoenix Terrace, phoenixes come and go,

3.鳳去台空江自流.Phoenixes gone, the Terrace empty but the river still in flow.
4.吳宮花草埋幽徑, Overgrown vegetation in the Wu Palace buries the quiet paths,
5.晉代衣冠成古丘. Gentry in the Age of Jin had become ancient graves.

6.三山半落青天外  Three Mountains halfway nestled in the blue sky yonder,
7.一水中分白鷺洲 One river into two the White Egret Islet divides in the middle.
8.總為浮雲能蔽日 And still because of floating clouds can obscure the sun,
9.長安不見使人愁 The City of Eternal Peace unseen, maketh one in sorrow.

1.Old name for Nanjing – the Southern Capital.

2.A terrace built on Mt. Phoenix, near the city of Nanjing.

3.Refers to the Yang Tze Kiang.

4.Eastern Wu, one dynasty during the Three Kingdoms Age 

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

5.Western Jin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_dynasty_(266%E2%80%93420) The original text uses “cap and gown”.

6. Name of a mountain near Nanjing, south west of the Yang Tze Kiang.

7. The 秦淮 river flows through Nanjing before emptying into the Yang Tze Kiang.  Some other versions use 二 instead of 一.

8. The clouds denote the corrupt court officials and the sun denotes the Emperor Hsuan Tsung.

9. Changan, the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

Lines 4 -7 are two pairs of couplets and to keep the original flavor, I didn’t want to have it rhymed and destroy the original structure.

In 747AD, Li Po was let go by Emperor Hsuan Tsung and was given some gold to retire.  The poet had high hopes of rising to the pinnacle of power because of his talent.  However, the emperor had always treated him as a sort of entertainer for his poetry.  He was not held in high regard because of his loose lips and only at his best when in total intoxication.  Someone not to be taken seriously in official matters of highest security.  To be fair to the emperor, in his eyes, Li Po is nothing but like a popstar of today.

11 May 2020