Just The Way Things Are

During my brush writing practice using the poem, Bamboo and Stone by the Ch'ing Dynasty scholar, Cheng Hsieh 鄭燮, courtesy name, Pan Chiao (板橋), the characters, when I came to the characters, 青山, I was inspired to write something of my own…

1 青山難免白雲見 Inevitably, white clouds will be seen over the green mountains.
2 碧海何無紫飛燕 Why then are there no dotting purple of swiftlets over the azure sea?
3 人間自會善惡報 Rewards and retributions will eventually catch up in the mortal world,
4 別聚更有夢中纒 Even in partings and reunions, there be entanglements in dreams!

2 紫燕 is the purple martin. Chinese do not distinguish martins, swallows and swifts. Swallows symbolize fidelity as they mate for life. Here, the “swallow” refers to the white nest swiftlet whose nests are made entirely from their saliva which the Chinese use to make bird nest soup. The species live in the cliffs of the Andaman Islands and some Indonesian islands. The purple refers to color of the birds from afar.

Sunday, December 18, 2022

竹石 Bamboo and Stone

1咬定青山不放鬆, Sinking tenaciously into the green mountains,
2 立根原在破巖中. In crevices of the cliffs from whence its roots had sprung.
3 千磨萬擊還堅勁, A thousand abrading, a myriad attacks, still in vigor,
4 任爾東西南北風 Matters not what winds sent forth from the north, south, east or west.

1 Literally, “biting”

4 爾 means “you”, referring to Mother Nature.