It had been a month since my last composition. I was in no mood in doing anything while laying on the bed like some invalid because of my feet. It was during the wee hours of one night when I woke up and getting back to sleep was difficult. Might as well put my overactive mind to do something good.
1 池塘微波攕水月 Gentle ripples shatter the watery moon on the pond,
2 樓高寂寞琴音絕 Lofty terraces are lonely when without music.
3 不知主人醉夢何 Of what dreams the master has in his inebriated dreams,
4 嫦娥孤淒五更別 Mournful is the lonely Moon Goddess departing at the Hour of the Fifth.
2 Can be towers or high buildings. I believe in this case a high open terrace where banquets are given and to enjoy the beauty of the moon. This is a variation of the couplet, “近水楼台先得月，向阳花木易逢春” – “waters near the high terraces will first get the moon (the reflection), sun-facing flowers and trees will greet spring earlier” - to mean those being nearer, chances of their first dibs are better.
3 “host” will not be an appropriate translation.
4. The personification of a loneliness forlorn mood denoted by the moon. The 5th Hour, the last two hours before daybreak.
Thursday, May 6, 2021
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