The Bottomless Human Heart

 

While doodling with my brush writing…However, during a walk in the alligator park, I happened to look up the sky and there was a dragon-like cloud formation. The original theme was changed - that when we are in contentment, surrounding beauty will become more apparent.

1 天因雲龍戲 The skies are for cloud dragons to frolic,
2 夜為銀河流 And night’s the reason for the Silver River to flow.
3 山上紫烟存 On mountain tops are where purple mists exist,
4 洞中桃源有 And in grottoes - paradise can be found.

5 凡塵榮華貴 In the mortal realm, glory and power are looked upon with awe,
6 蓬萊夢裡求 And in impossible dreams - forever searching,
7 難滿人心慾 Never will desires of the human heart be ever filled,
8 不足富亦愁 Even wallowing in wealth, sorrows still abound.

1 Chinese believe that that there are nine layers of heaven versus seven in the West. Without the photo that inspired this poem, it would be difficult to guess what cloud dragons are.

2 Silver River is the Chinese term for the Milky Way. Obviously the waters are the myriad of stars blinking away.

3 Purple is the color of auspicious magic and it was believed that fairy pools/springs exist in remote areas of mountains. It’s not the color of the water but the reflection of the purple mists hovering over them. 存 and 泉 share the same sound in Cantonese.

4 The peach blossom spring is located after going through a grotto.

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

6 Here it is used as an adjective phrase to mean the impossible. Nary a mortal’s feet had set upon the place.

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

8 My adaptation of a common saying, 知足者貧亦樂, 不足者富亦憂 which in turn is derived from Lao Tzu’s 罪莫大於可欲, 禍莫大於不知足, 咎莫大於欲得. 故知足之足, 常足矣.

Tuesday, July 12, 2022