My friend, Dominic posted this photo on FB and it inspired me to write this poem. The second photo, though gorgeous is not as dramatic as the first.
1餘暉霞暗蓬萊嵿 The remaining red clouds of sunset are darkening the mountain tops of Paradise,
2枯枝前頭寒冬時 It’s the time when boughs of winter had withered in the cold.
3何意獨步龍鼓灘 Of what reason had made thee walk alone on Dragon Drums Beach?
4牽引君手再莫辭 Refuse me not again to take thy hand and lead thee away.
5緣何自明默相對 Why is it too self-evident that we face each other in silence?
6春花秋人兩岸異 Difference is in the riverbanks of spring blooms and the autumnal man.
7此世來生未了情 In this life or the next, this love nary a blossom be.
8夢渡鵲橋非瑤池 Crossing the Magpie Bridge in dreams is no Jasper Pool dipping.
1 One of the three Blessed Isles in the Eastern Ocean, the abode of immortals
3 The name of the beach in Hong Kong where this photo was taken. It was part of the caption on his posting in Facebook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_Kwu_Tan
5 緣 as a noun mean “the reason” and as a verb, “why”.
6-7 Separated by the river of time, the banks (worlds) in their respective periods are different. Even in reincarnation, there is a lag time difference in which they are reborn - their ages will forever be separated by this chasm.
8 A bridge formed by magpies on the seventh night of seventh lunar month so that the lovers of the cowherd and the celestial spinning maid can cross for their yearly reunion. The Jasper Pool is not a mere decorative addition in the realm of the Queen Mother of the West. It serves a purpose whereby human beings, demons etc. are transformed into fairy beings. 脱胎換骨 – “shed the embryo and change the bones” cleanses one’s former desires and filth of the mortal world before entering the world of immortals – A Chinese version of the fountain of youth.
3何意獨步龍鼓灘 Of what reason had made thee walk alone on Dragon Drums Beach?
4牽引君手再莫辭 Refuse me not again to take thy hand and lead thee away.
5緣何自明默相對 Why is it too self-evident that we face each other in silence?
6春花秋人兩岸異 Difference is in the riverbanks of spring blooms and the autumnal man.
7此世來生未了情 In this life or the next, this love nary a blossom be.
8夢渡鵲橋非瑤池 Crossing the Magpie Bridge in dreams is no Jasper Pool dipping.
1 One of the three Blessed Isles in the Eastern Ocean, the abode of immortals
3 The name of the beach in Hong Kong where this photo was taken. It was part of the caption on his posting in Facebook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_Kwu_Tan
5 緣 as a noun mean “the reason” and as a verb, “why”.
6-7 Separated by the river of time, the banks (worlds) in their respective periods are different. Even in reincarnation, there is a lag time difference in which they are reborn - their ages will forever be separated by this chasm.
8 A bridge formed by magpies on the seventh night of seventh lunar month so that the lovers of the cowherd and the celestial spinning maid can cross for their yearly reunion. The Jasper Pool is not a mere decorative addition in the realm of the Queen Mother of the West. It serves a purpose whereby human beings, demons etc. are transformed into fairy beings. 脱胎換骨 – “shed the embryo and change the bones” cleanses one’s former desires and filth of the mortal world before entering the world of immortals – A Chinese version of the fountain of youth.
Sunday, January 17, 2021
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