Dragon's Egg

This idea of this one came about while I was trying to complete the previous poem. The event is so common and generic that it can happen to any family.

1 樹蔭涼下野蘭花 Under the cool shade of the tree, is a wild orchid,
2 躝上梧桐鳳凰化 Creeping towards the wutung tree to become a phoenix.
3 可歎慈愛一朝滅 Alas, sigh of a mother’s love one day extinguished,
4 結珠成龍為誰家 For whose family this dragon’s egg is for?

1 蘭 here refers to 蘭貴人, the future empress dowager, Tzu Hsi. 野 refers to the poverty of her family. The tree then must refer to the Hsien Feng emperor.

2 Wild orchids are not creepers. I took the poetic licence to refer the literal meaning as morning glory. It is believed that a phoenix will alight only on branches of the Empress Tree, Paulownia. A common expression, 山雞飛上枝頭變鳳凰, the mountain (wild) chicken flying up to the bough and transformed into a phoenix to mean a lady of lowly status becoming the top dog.

3 慈 is another hidden clue to denote the empress dowager.

4 The pearl refers to her son, the future Tung Chih emperor. There is a Chinese expression, the old oyster bears a pearl, 老蚌生珠 to mean giving birth at a late age. “to become a dragon” means that the son becomes successful. In this case it means literally to become one, i.e. to become the emperor. “Dragon’s egg” is more colorful than “a pearl formed to become a dragon”

Monday, April 10, 2023