Approaching Silver Haired

Another jogging poem to kill the time...

1 青山碧海白雲天, The mountains green, the ocean blue and a sky of white clouds,
2 紅塵金露紫泉現. The mundane world, the autumn dew and the fairy pool appeared.
3 相隔蓬萊萬重冤, Separated from paradise is a myriad injustice.
4 五更滿醉夢難眠. Drunken stupor at the hour of dawn, even dreams are not asleep.

1 Green mountains and blue ocean represents youth and white clouds – grey hair of age

2 “red dust” – a Buddhist term for the mortal world; autumn is represented by the metal element – getting old; it is believed that fairy pools are enshrouded in purplish mists – pools of immortality.

3 Penglai – the realm of immortals in the Eastern Ocean. “injustice” – because when you are getting old, you yearn for elixir of youth – love too much of this world to leave.

4 Fretful sleep – an overactive mind that even in dreams, one does not feel that one has fallen asleep.

Monday, March 22, 2021

Frontier Lament - 塞外怨

Another jogging inspiration...

1 夜臨塞外月秋愁 Sadness is the autumn moon as night approaches the frontiers yonder,
2 人生路遙有盡頭 A long road of life will always have an end.
3 世來依舊紅塵烟 Human activities still be around upon stepping into this world,
4 西去仍然水東流 And rivers will continue flowing east after departing this realm.

4. Literally returning to the west. It is believed that Buddhist paradise is in India.

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Utter Hopelessness

 
一年又復一年少 came to me unexpectedly. I tried make this into a couplet and couldn’t. Nor could I come up with an appropriate theme for a poem. Morpheus did not bring Erato to me. All I had for a first line was something like 小時花舞歌.

The following day while I was jogging and getting caught in the drizzle, I was able to add 江口舟來江口去 and the rest of the theme came easily.  However, after many revisions and refinements...

1 絲竹歌舞常樂醉 Strings and reeds; song and dance, often in inebriated joy,
2 舊時春光無限取 In days of old when unlimited radiance of spring to draw upon.
3 今夜水冷月更寒 Tonight’s water is piercing but the moon is even colder,
4 琵琶聲歇雲烟淚 The notes of the lute had stopped as tears a plentiful.

5 江頭已別江頭遠 Far and distant is the river’s mouth, once a fare thee well is made,
6 一年度盡一年去 A year spent is a year of no return.
7 豈宜借問廣寒兔 Would it be appropriate to ask the Rabbit in the Palace of the Great Cold,
8 嫦娥何得迎新歲 How can the Goddess of the Moon greet the New Year?

1 “Strings and reeds” – musical instruments, i.e., music. 長 is more difficult for me to write with a brush.

2春光 can mean scenes of springtime or implies an indication of a love affair.

4 雲烟 can also mean ethereal or impermanence and in this context – tears over the ethereal past.

5 It is unclear the author is leaving or someone else is.

7 The Palace of the Great Cold is the name of the palace where the Goddess of the Moon resides with the Jade Rabbit, the Three Legged Toad and the Osmanthus Tree. This line is reminiscent of “豈宜重問後庭花”.

8 Waiting for the New Year is a time when there is hope for better things to come. However, this hope is illusory in the eyes of the Goddess of the moon because she is eternally alone.

Wednesday, March 10, 2020

Another Old Poem Update

 

This the fourth update to a long ago poem...

1 伴花落葉為誰看 For whom the leaves of falling blooms see?

2 畫中桃紅嵗月望 Looking through the peachy red years of the painting,
3 秋詐東君長夢醉 Autumn masquerades the Lord of the East Wind, a long-inebriated dream,.

4 一吹南柯先覺寒 But one gust the Southern Bough will surely feel the cold first.

1 Falling flowers and leaves – passing of one’s prime. This imagery is taken from a scene in the Red of the Red Chamber where the weakly sick Lin Daiyu, laments that who will bury her when she dies, just like her burying fallen blooms.

2 Time stops in the painting.  How I wish it would be my Dorian Grey's... 桃紅 refers rosiness of youth or to the story of the Peach Source (桃源記) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peach_Blossom_Spring

3 Lord of the East Wind, i.e. spring

4 Dream of the Southern Bough https://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2011/02/dream-of-southern-bough-chinese-antz.html

Sunday, March 7, 2021

Pandemic Blues

I hope that during this pandemic that we may learn how precious things are when we take them for granted.  In times of lock down, social distancing and staying home all the time...  The freedom of movement, to freedom to think, to  pursue -- not just for men but for women and all living creatures.

This poem is about ancient Chinese women of the gentry had to bear...  It was started from reading one of 李後主's poem, 鶯狂應有恨, 蝶舞已無多.

1 春去蝶舞已無多 Spring is going and the dancing butterflies are fewer now,
2 來秋葉落花難過 'tis difficult for flowers to pass with the approaching autumn and falling leaves,
3 紈扇兼收石榴裙 Both the silk fan and the pomegranate-colored skirts are being put away,
4 何聊閑度寂寞坐 Of what interest but to fritter time in boredom, sitting in loneliness.

 2 難過 literally means "having difficulty (time or otherwise) to pass [through]" and has the extended meaning of "sadness".  This line therefore can also be translated as "With the approaching autumn with leaves falling, the flowers are in sadness".

3 紈扇 are delicate round silk fans used by women to keep cool during summer.  A favorite pastime is to "catch" butterflies (撲蝶) with them.  Actually, the object of the game is to see how many butterflies can be touched by the silk of the fan. It is not easy owing to the breeze caused by the fan to blow away the butterfly.  Once touched, they are let go and the game continues.  The winner is the one who caught the most.  It is a sort of exercise and distraction in an otherwise dull environment in which the girls of the gentry live.  

石榴裙 refers to the purplish crimson color of the skirt.  It was very popular during the Tang Dynasty as it does not bleed into other colors during the dying process and so it is used delicate and gauzy types of silk.  As the cold season approaches, they are put away as their function is no longer applicable.

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Evolution Of A Poem

My Chinese Poetry Writing Journey

I felt very gratified the other day when someone asked how I learnt to write Chinese poetry. My compositions are paltry and hold no light to my peers. This does not bother me. Poetry writing is a pastime which I enjoy privately and what was written was not meant to be published. I scribbled down the best a youth first in love could muster. The future will come bearing the tools and knowledge to refine it.

Nowadays, it is so much easier with the internet to search for answers. You guys got it easy. However, it is no magic wand and turn you into a great poet overnight. The road towards that mountain top view is arduous and lots of walking and climbing are needed.

1. Record everything you write. If making them public as in a blog or not is your preference. It others can see them, then be prepared to be thick skinned. The records will serve as map of your journey.

2. Read the works of the masters. Copy and pilfer. To me, imitation is sincerest form of flattery. It is like learning to play the piano. You play exactly as written. When the piece becomes a synch, improvisation can be made here and there to suit the particular mood of the time. It may not be good compared to the original but the point is for one to explore and be creative. With enough practice, perfection comes. It may take a long time, but the result is very satisfying.

3. Read from everything else. Inspiration comes from the most unlikely places. It could be listening to a song or doodling on something. Sometimes mine comes from correcting essays of others. Without ideas, even in possession of the most elegant words, they will just remain where they are – locked away in the depths of your mind.

4. Have a discussion with others on your composition. Accept criticism and don’t get annoyed if you disagree. Learn to be thick skinned! Ask yourself, would they want to waste their time if they are not interested what you wrote, especially when you don’t depend on them for a livelihood?

5. It is always difficult in the beginning. As time goes by, things will become easier. So, never get despaired. Put that negative mood to good use and write a sad poem instead of mopping around.

Here is an example. Firefly was written originally in 2010. The first line was inspired by two images in the article of my blog.

螢火不曉鬥星光, The fireflies' light does not know how to vie with the stars,

I did not know how to continue and so I wrote and rewrote the line as a calligraphy practice. Then unconsciously, while listening to a melody, the second line was born.

琴音無意接花香. Flowers' fragrance - zither's unexpected boon.

To the astute, the next two lines were imagery lifted from 杜秋娘’s poem found in the Three

Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty,

只識撲奪金鏤衣, To those madly pursuing the glories of the world,
難明春色不待人. Would hardly understand that spring waits for no one.

Her poem is reproduced here for easy reference,

勸君莫惜金鏤衣, I urged my Lord not to covet the golden knitted suit,
勸君惜取少年時. I urged my Lord to cherish the time of youth.
花開堪折直須折, When flowers bloom, they ought to be plucked,
莫待無花空折枝. And wait not no longer in bloom to pluck the empty bough.

My composition has no rhyme and I am sure a thousand rules on poetry written were broken.  At that time, I didn’t know what those rules were.  Even today, I still have difficulty in deciphering some of them.  It was of no consequence to me. I just wrote them down in my journal.  Later as technology improved, I put it on my blog – just in case there’s a fire... 

It languished both physically and digitally for five years before revisiting it out of the blue on a summer’s day in July, 2015.  The biggest change was to the second line to continue the imagery of the first line and to rhyme it with the last line.  The changes are in italics.

微光短短艶紅塵 What a short time for it to glow in this mundane world,

Then a month later, it was changed to,

微光點點挑花魂, Dimly dotting, arousing souls of flowers.

And two years later in 2017, lines 3 and 4 were slightly modified to,

郎君只識鏤衣金 My beloved knows only the gold on his official robes
難解春色不待人. Would hardly understand that spring waits for no one.

Major changes were made during another visit in 2018,

螢火不識鬥星光 Light of fireflies knows not how to vie with starlight
輕舞微點挑花魂 Dotting in dance, gingerly here and there, arousing souls of flowers
郎君醉傾鏤衣金 My beloved, drunken in the gold on his official robes
難解春色莫待人. 'tis difficult for him to understand colors of spring wait for no one.

When I revisited the poem when this article was written, there was only one change – to make the first line rhyme with the 2nd and 4th lines.

螢火不識鬥星辰  Light of fireflies knows not how to vie with starlight

輕舞微點挑花魂 Dotting in dance, gingerly here and there, arousing souls of flowers

郎君醉傾鏤衣金 My beloved, drunken in the gold on his official robes
難解春色莫待人. 'tis difficult for him to understand colors of spring wait for no one.

By looking at the record of the changes I made, I know that there is improvement at each stage. I don’t care if the final product is good or not.  My advice is to keep on going, refining when felt like it. Compare with no one except with oneself.  If today is better than yesterday,  then I am on my way to a better mountain top view even if the journey had taken eleven years.  Perhaps, in the future there may be more changes…

 Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Born From a Dream - 夢中而生

 

五月紅梅夢 was born in a dream and when I realized everything was but a dream, I woke up.  During my semi-conscious state, the second line came - 千年白雪山.Things didn't seem as perfect as in a fully wakened state...
 
1 五月紅梅風 In the Month of Five, is a breeze of red plum blossoms,
2 千年白雪夢 But a dream of the thousand-year-old snow.
3 銀鑒當空時 When the silver mirror is up in the sky,
4 古今重相逢 The past and present, twain shall meet once again.

1 Plum blossoms bloom best in the harshest winter but that time had long gone - lost youth. This line can semantically be interpreted as “five months of red plum blossom fragrance”.

2 Snowcapped mountains – white hair. Being old seemed a longer duration than when young.

3 Silver mirror – the bright moon.  Ancient Chinese mirrors are made from bronze and is used as a metaphor for self-reflection.

4 Memories of long ago come flooding back.

Monday, March 1, 2021

Broken Vows of the Seventh Night - 七夕誓約叛

For two days, I was stuck with 杯傾酒滴...

1 杯傾酒滴竹絲斷 Toppled cups, dripping wine, broken reeds and strings,
2 羯鼓霓裳歌舞亂 The wether drum, the rainbow raiment, song and dance in shambles.
3 長安火炎洛陽烟 The City of Eternal Peace up in flames and the second capital smoking,
4 七夕誓約馬嵬叛 Vows of the Seventh Night, betrayed at the Mawei Slope.

2 Emperor Hsuan Tsung is well versed playing this drum. Once, while the emperor while was playing the instrument, plum blossoms bloomed at an opportune moment to prove that the Emperor is also the Lord of the Sky (天公). This gave rise to the idiom 羯鼓催花. The rainbow raiment refers to Yang Guifei. She had choreographed the song and dance of 霓裳羽衣 (rainbow raiment feathered skirt).

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

3. The first imperial Tang capital was Changan, now know as Xian, Western Peace. The second imperial capital was Loyang established by Empress Wu because she hated the former place, perhaps to get away from her past memories.

4. Seventh Night, the Chinese Valentine equivalent. It is the time when the stars Vega and Altair meet. They are more popularly known as the Heavenly Spinner and the Cowherd stars. During one such night, the emperor and his beloved pledged an eternal vow to be forever in togetherness. During the An Lu Shan rebellion, the emperor and his court escaped to Sichuan but at the Mawei Slope (named after an official whose last name is Ma (horse) and his name “great/huge/precipitous” who built a city and garrison there). The troops refused to move further unless the emperor’s beloved is dead because they believed that she is the cause of their current plight. The emperor had no choice but to bestow a white silken cord to hang herself. This line can refer to the “rebellion” of the troops or the emperor’s betrayal to their vows.

叛 rhymes in Mandarin but not in Cantonese.

Sunday, February 28, 2021

 

Embracing A Pretty Girl Can Be Dangerous

I was running out of creative ideas during a lull and I needed more compositions to practise my calligraphy.  I wanted to kill two birds with a stone and a mental distraction during my two-hour jog on the same path again and again.  Finally, a theme emerged about a story surrounding the death of Li Po - that he was drowned while trying to embrace the moon during one of his famous drunken bouts.  It was said that he composed great works in that state.

Still, it took me two days to come out with something decent after the first line had been written down.

1杯舉邀迎嫦娥降 Raising a cup, I invited the Goddess of the Moon to come down,

2垂青低眉船邊望 Favoured, I lowered my brows to look beyond the side of the boat.
3共同醉意夜一歡 Inebriated in togetherness for a night of fun,
4莫擁嬋娟知水寒 But embrace not the pretty girl to know that the water’s cold.

2 青 also means black. 青絲 (black threads silk i.e. black hair). The black here means the pupil of the eye. Later on, the eye radical was added i.e. 睛 so that it is more easily understood. Another example is 采 (not 釆!, a variant of 辨).  The top component represents a claw and the bottom, a tree to mean “pluck/pick” etc. In later times, the hand radical was added for more clarity, 採. Due to simplification for the sake of writing more speedily, the hand radical was removed and 彩 is mapped onto it as well. This adds another level of greater complexity in understanding, as the character is no longer context free. As 睛 is not frequently used, the eye radical was not simplified away. This aspect of many-to-one correspondence is one of the two reasons I do not like using simplified characters. The other reason has to with the character’s aesthetic beauty. An example is the grass hand form of 東. It has graceful and flowing curves that can be written in one stroke but now has been squared to an ugly form of 东. I have no problem using 烟 (and my preferred way) for 煙 or 菸.

4 There are many poetic forms for the moon, such as the jade rabbit, the three-legged toad, the silver mirror, the Grand Cold, lunar palace, etc. 嬋娟 is a personification who is approachable where 嫦娥 is the Goddess and unapproachable. 恒娥 is the original name of the goddess but her name clashes with the personal name of the Han Emperor Wen Ti, 劉恒 and the goddess had to be renamed.

Saturday, February 27, 2021