The Heartless Moon

In my dream, I saw this line, 黑夜明月照池塘 - In the dark of the night, the moon shines over a pond. Started on the poem when I woke up.  Many changes were made but the third line stumped for a day or so. First, it didn't go with the flow and the reading sounded awkward.  Then in a state of semi-consciousness as my mind wandered off somewhere as I took my daily walk, the solution floated into my mind's eye like a dancing dandelion.

1 秋時明月照池塘 The moon of autumn shines over the pond,
2 水中寒宮冷相望 And the Cold Palace in the water stares in mutual coldness.
3 夜啼鶯聲愁更添 The sound of the night cawing oriole makes it even more sorrowful,
4 銀光情薄映花黄 And the silvery light of no feeling makes the flowers look so tallow.

2 Another euphemism of the moon since Chang-Er lives by herself in the lunar palace.

4 literally, “flowers reflected in yellow”

Monday, March 21, 2022

Ode to Spring - 春頌

A Ghibli-like scenery of a sea of yellow flowers gave me the inspiration.

1 天青白雲蓋 Blue is the sky and white clouds as covering over,
2 草綠黄花海 And a sea of green grasses and yellow flowers.
3 風皺波葉浪 Leaves welling up like waves in the gentle breeze,
4 甦醒迎春來 As if awakened to greet the coming spring.

Sunday, March 13, 2022

The Moon And I

I was doodling in boredom when the first four characters came into my mind. However, I could not continue and forgot all about it. Then I went to dinner and had a cup of coffee. My mind went into hyper drive late into midnight…

1 夜闌孤月兩相逢 Deep into the night the solitary moon and I chanced upon each other,
2 敬意舉杯醉慵慵 With respect but my cup lifted in tipsy lethargy.
3 嫦娥殷勤扶身起 Down came the Goddess of the Moon solicitously to lift me up on my feet,
4 醒來悟覺是夢中 But then I woke up to realize that all is in a dream.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Untitled - 無題

While practising my calligraphy…

1 雨滴矇矓雲烟霧 Hazy raindrops in misty fog,
2 後庭小徑去無路 The path in the backyard is going nowhere.
3 飃颻燭光琴影動 Shadows of the zither trembling in the wavering candlelight,
4 門前風别花落掃 And by the front door, the parting wind, sweeping away fallen blossoms.

1 Could be describing misty tears.

2 無路 can also mean “no way out”

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Untitled - 無題

Trying to create a poem forcefully as I was bored…

1 又見門前柳枝發 Once more by the front door willow twigs sprouting in green,
2 三秋已別與君隔 Three autumns had passed since my Lord had departed.
3 舊巢重逢歸燕喜 Joyful are the returning swallows upon seeing their old nest,
4 牆上琵琶絃音客 On the wall still hangs the pipa but its sound is like a long gone departed guest.

3 Swallows are known to return to their old nests and will repair them if necessary. This can go on for generations.

4 The pipa represents the woman while the sounds represents like her clientele, comes and goes as their mood dictates.

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

The Last Tempest

Another nostalgic moment while listening to Vanessa Mae’s Butterfly Lovers Concerto…  Originally, the theme was about a personal perspective about recovery from an ailment.  However, the punchline lacks zest and I was at a loss.  In the end, I had Autumn Thoughts By the Dresser playing in the background the next morning… It is incredulous to see how the original theme could be so drastically changed.

1 日見窗外花已殘 By day through the window, I see the flowers had withered away,
2 夜醉夢中蓬山還 By night through inebriation, my dreams of the Immortal Isles returned.
3 瀛臺泣血夕陽斜 The last tempest at the Ocean Terrace and the sun is setting,
4 凡塵多情何時散 When will the passions of the mundane world end?

2 A group of three isles in the Eastern Ocean where earth immortals make their abode. At this time, we do not know if the author was a banished immortal or a frequent guest to the place.

3 瀛洲 is one of the three Immortal Isles, the other two being 蓬萊 and 方丈. 瀛臺is a building on that isle. It is also a manmade island in the imperial gardens to mimic the place which can only be reached by boat. 泣血 means “to weep until tears became blood”. It is just an exaggeration due to the redness of the eyes through weeping. 瀛臺泣血 is a book written by Princess Derling (德齡公主) about the imprisonment of Emperor Kuang Hsu after his failed palace coup against the Empress Dowager.

There is also a 1976 movie of the same title but translated as “The Last Tempest” which I find more intriguing than “Weeping in the Ocean Terrace”.

Now that the identity of the character in the poem is established, we know that the flowers represent the Pearl Concubine.

The sunset refers to the declining years of the Ch’ing Dynasty.

4 After the death of Emperor Kuang Hsu, the dynasty lasted three more years when the “Last Emperor” abdicated.

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

Thursday, March 3, 2022

A few days later, I thought I did not have the calligraphy of the poem and so I started to write it out again to be digitized.  However, I did not realize that I had the wrong version and refinements were made as it was being written out...  And when I realized it, it seemed such a waste not to use it.

1 日見窗外花鳥間 In daylight, through the window is a world of flowers and birds seen,
2 夜醉矇矓蓬山還 But at night in drunk in grogginess is a realm of immortals returned.
3 紅塵繁華殷勤盡 The bustling beauty of mortal earth has no soul,
4 瀛臺依舊長歸難 Alas the fairyland is still difficult to return in permanence.

1 The flowers represent the smells and birds the sounds of the world.

3 繁華 means “excitement, hustle and bustle, colorful, adventure etc,”. Usually, the word order in Chinese has no significant change in meaning but as with everything, there are exceptions. In this case,  殷勤盡 means “no more solicitous” whereas 盡殷勤 is “being utmost solicitous”. Another example would be 天子, the son of Heaven i.e. the emperor vs 子天 – 子 has meanings of “son”, “you”, “a rank of nobility”, “a specific hour” etc….

Thursday, March 3, 2022

Halcyon Days

I was feeling nostalgic as disco music came blaring into my headphones. Though its beat and throbbing drums no longer stir up the passion in my blood, the nostalgia of bygone days could not be avoided. Like someone you once seemed to know but could not be placed in the mind… Nay! I know not such an ancient creature before me. I wanted to flee but was transfixed on the spot in a state of incredulity. Then the weight of its years began to peel away and an angel slowly grew out from the now discarded shell. It held out a hand and led me back to the nights of eons ago on the dance floor…

1 舊日明月照花前 In days of yore when the moon shone brightly before the flowers,
2 今夜瀛臺莫一見 But tonight, the Ocean Terrace is seen no more.
3 東海蓬山雲烟鎖 For the Eastern Sea where the Immortal Isles are, is locked in mists,
4 流水何曾為誰憐 And since when does Time have sympathy for anyone?

1 The original line was 曾經明月照花前 but I didn’t want to repeat 曾 in the last line.

2 瀛洲 is one of the Immortal Isles in the Eastern Ocean.

4 流水, flowing waters denote the passage of time.

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

An Accidental Walk Into A Dream - 錯入夢間

Greenleaf Ave in Whittier is not a usual place for me to go but I was here today because a friend needed my support to go for a dental consultation with another friend. There were too many people in the waiting room for my comfort and so I decided to take a walk outside because the street.  The place looks quaint, like a small town with unique mom and pop stores. Most of the architecture is in art deco style. It makes one feel as if one had mistakenly walked back into a gone by era. 

There were no people on the street. Later found out, from the business signs, that most of the stores do not open for business till noon. The tree lined avenue provided shade for an invitation for a pleasant exploratory walk in the warm weather. The road was closed to traffic, perhaps due to Covid restrictions but laxed enough for outdoor dining. A dream-like tranquil setting.

1 幽徑路傍樹蔭請 A quiet path where roadside tree shade bids welcome,
2 午時未至商店靜 Noon is not here and the stores are quiet.
3 莫見行人逍遙夢 What a carefree dream ‘tis in not seeing any passerby,
4 紅塵獨步兩袖輕 Upon this world of red dust, my two sleeves billowing light.

4 “red dust” – Buddhist term for the mundane world. I am playing with the term, 兩袖清, “two sleeves clean”,  meaning an upright official who never took any bribe. In the old days,  sleeves were long and billowy. They were used like pockets to carry money and other small items. It is also a convenient way to keep prying eyes away as a transaction took place.  If the sleeves are light... and therefore extended to mean “without worldly worries to be burdened with”. More importantly, I did not like that there are too many of the 青 radical to be used in my brush writing.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Woes Of The World

Usually, I post only poems about my personal experience or historical references to my life. I don’t like to write about politics or current events on the world stage. However, I had to make an exception to this. I am living in extraordinary times which in ways subtle had influenced my thoughts… I could not get rid of the image of the six year old Ukrainian casualty… Hence these two poems...

春風未至花盡落    Spring wind has yet to arrive and all the blossoms had fallen,
再世瑤池凡間脱    To be reborn in the fairy Jasper Pool, leaving the mortal world forever.

I find that the these two lines forming the last two lines of the original version lacked the oomph...

1 初醒紅梅隆冬雪 Harsh are winters when red plum blossoms aroused from their sleep,
2 寒冷飛霜人情缺 Cold are flurrying snowflakes and alas, human warmth a lack.
3 年華飄颻花落盡 Good times a teeter and blossoms falling a mass,
4 春風未迎凡塵脱 Spring wind yet to be welcomed, the blooms had left this mortal world.

1 Plum flowers blossom best in the harshest of winters and hence they carry a sense of overcoming the most adverse conditions. Another image is of a scene of red and white. Actually, “plum” is not the fruiting variety that is grown for commercial purposes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_mume

2 The environment is adverse and humanity is at its lowest.

3 年華 can mean, the best of times, the passing of time, the “flower” of time that is summer when most plants bloom, the best time of one’s years, usually to mean youth.

4 Spring is the time or rebirth. With the preceding lines, it is not hard to imagine blood on pristine white snow from the young. What is seen now are plum trees devoid of its blooms and foliage.

Saturday, February 26, 2022

初醒 came from the previous poem while walking at the marina. The sun was shining brightly but the winds were strong. A thought came to me about some showoffs about their children’s talents and a story formed in my mind.  However, I still could not rid my mind of the horrific events taking place, though taking place far far away from me.  As revisions were made, my heart acting on its own changed the theme without the knowledge of my consciousness.

1 紅梅曾經隆冬主 Red plum blossoms were once winter’s Lord and Master,
2 春前莫在桃花處 But when spring’s here, nary amongst in any peach bloom patch.
3 日月乾坤星辰轉 Even the sun and moon; Heaven and Earth; and the constellations change,
4 今時帝君明朝庶 An emperor today, a commoner tomorrow.

Monday, February 28, 2022

Weltschmerz No Longer

This came about as I was finishing up the previous poem…

1 初醒矇矓不知處 Upon wakening, in befuddled grogginess of not knowing where,
2 悟覺時見窗外雨 And when realization besets, I see the rain drizzling hazily outside the window.
3 凡塵恩怨雲烟散 Those who had been loved and begrudged are like dissipating mists,
4 春別黃昏向誰語 Spring had bid farewell to twilight, to whom can I now reminisce with.

1 It is not established whether the author had woken up from inebriation, from a long spell of sickness or just from an ordinary slumber.

2 Obviously it can be ascertained the author is in a room but what sort of a room, this we do not know.

3 This line clues us in that the previous line refers to the outside world and long ago memory is becoming hazy.

4 Literally, “[yellow sunset] evening, spring left, to tell to”. Evening refers to old age indicated by the departing spring. Friends and enemies alike, are gone leaving as the author as sole survivor and no one remaining to tell to or reminisce with.

Friday, February 25, 2022

Moonlight Diligence - 月下勤學

This came about as I was doodling with my brush with the first line…

1 高望蟾宮欲折桂 Looking high above at the moon wishing to break a Osmanthus bough,
2 嫦娥身傍賒銀輝 The Goddess of the Moon is by my side to lend me her silvery brightness.
3 一朝獨占鰲頭中 Till one day, the dragon tortoise head won,
4 十年窗苦莫妄費 Then ten years of hardship by the window is not in vain.

1 高望 can also mean to have high hopes. To snap a branch of the Osmanthus means to be successful in the imperial examinations.

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang'e. 賒 means “to buy on credit”. This shows the person is too poor even to buy candles for his nightly studies.

3 In the audience hall, there is a floor carving of the creature. Only the Number One Scholar for that year has the prerogative to stand on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_turtle

Thursday, February 24, 2022