Old Dreams

On the same day composing 晴天風微皺銀波, this came on my way back from my walk at Point Fermin when I saw a withered leaf lying on the luscious green residential lawn…

1 草上一片枯葉見 Upon the grass, a withered leaf seen,
2 觸起餘生眼前現 What my remaining years would be, flashed before me.
3 秋來寒急紈扇收 Autumn is coming with hurried coldness and my silk fan be put away,
4 忽看金箱舊夢綿 And espied in the golden chest, old cotton clothes of my bygone dreams.

3 Putting away the silk fan because it is no longer needed for the hot summers implies that its usefulness is no more.

4 A golden chest implies wealth and silk fan is for a lady of leisure. The cotton clothes implies that the lady was from very humble origins. Perhaps she was married into wealth because of her beauty and that she lamented that she is no longer alluring in her autumn years.

Saturday, 2 October 2021