Flowers In The Wind

This was inspired by this picture from a neighbor’s yard…

1 立春轉眼五月尾 In a blink of an eye, early springtime is now May's end,
2 風到花落胭脂地 Arriving winds, falling blossoms, rouging the ground.
3 紅顏一代芙蓉天 An age of peachy complexions is now the [summer] sky for lotuses,
4 金菊霎間凡塵戲 When suddenly, golden chrysanthemums [of autumn] began to tease the world of mortals.

1 立春 is the first of the 24 solar terms that begins in the second lunar month. It sounds better to my ears with the next line than 春色. 五月尾 sounds better than 小滿尾.

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

3 紅顏, “red face” is used to denote the “peach bloom” complexion of a young and beautiful woman. The modern meaning of 芙蓉 is hibiscus but in poetry, lotus is meant.

4 Chrysanthemums are the symbol of autumn when most other flowers had faded.

Sunday, May 21, 2023

A Little Proposition

I was on a ball when a previous poem was still in progress… 告, 襯芳草 and 飛登月壁参玉兔 came from 許願 from the Cantonese series, 清宮殘夢.

1 嬌枝綠柳殷勤告 Dainty are the willow branches in meticulous beckoning,
2 月圓花香襯芳草 Matching are fragrant flowers and aromatic grasses under the moon.
3 寒風兩袖樓難上 Alas, Two sleeves billowing in cold, unable to ascend to the tower,
4 千杯夢騰參玉兔 A thousand cups later, in dreams of homage I flew to the Jade Rabbit.

1 柳 symbolizes the slender female form.

2 花 here symbolizes courtesans. 尋花問柳, “looking for flowers by asking the willows” is a euphemism looking for some paid pleasures of the flesh. Now we know that the willow represents the mama-san beckoning for business.

Chinese clothing has no pockets! The so called pockets are the sleeves ends sewn backwards to function as pockets. The open end is the top part where the arm goes through. Small hanging bags around the waist are also to carry small items.

3 兩袖清風, “Two sleeves of pure wind” is used to denote an official who is upright and incorruptible as his large sleeves has no bribed gold or silver to hold it down from billowing. Chinese clothing has no pockets. The lower sleeves are sewn shut for this purpose. Also, small hanging pouches around the waist are used. 寒 means “poor” as in the terms, 寒舍, “cold dwelling”, and 寒窗, “cold window”. 樓is short for 青樓, the green/blue bowers, pleasure houses.

4 The Jade Rabbit is a denizen of the moon and hence symbolizes the place. Jade does not denote the green color of jade. Ancient Chinese referred the pale white color of mutton fat until it became popular when it was highly favored by the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi of the Ch’ing Dynasty. The rabbit and the moon in this poem represent purity.

On the surface, the dialog in the poem is the rejection of pleasure services due to its exorbitant price that the client does not want to pay due to shoddy goods - rather to spend money on wine where he can obtain something better. His logic is that life is but a dream and reality will eventually become ethereal; given enough time, just like a vacation taken a long time ago. Better a quick death from alcohol poisoning than from some lingering disease!

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Can Dreams Of Springtime Warm Anyone?

1 莫見東君舍無神 Upon not seeing the Lord of the East, hearts are at a loss,
2 一陣寒風碎花魂 One gust of wind in cold and souls of flowers shattered.
3 千杯醉意洗盡愁 A thousand cups of tipsiness will erase all sorrows,
4 夢裡春色暖何人 Can dreams of Springtime warm anyone?

1 Lord of the East – the Chinese sun god. It is believed that the human spirit dwells in the heart. From the phrase 神不守舍, the [human] spirit no longer guards the abode to mean “desperate”, “at a loss”, “distracted”, listless etc.

3 Literally, “washes away”

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Nocturnal Ethereality

1 月滿高樓秦淮心 Full moon over the towers of Qin Huai central,
2 白銀引路待君臨 With white silver to lead the way, I waited for thee to come.
3 笑颜醉歡各懷志 Under smiling faces and inebriated joy are the intentions of each,
4 朝霧盡散仍舊尋 Still the old search even as the morn dissipates the mists.

1 The red light district of Qin Huai River. Heart can either mean the central area or “in the hearts” of the people in the area.

2 Copper is usually the current unit of daily items, silver for more expensive and services and of course gold, for the most luxurious items. Bolts of silk are also used as monetary units. It can also denote the silvery moonlight but is highly unlikely given the situation.

4 Reality sets in as morning breaks.

Friday, May 12, 2023

Never Enough

1 月暗風微流星雨 The moon is dark, the wind is gentle and a drizzle of shooting stars,
2 喜鵲騰飛銀河遇 Joyous magpies flying high to meet the Silver River,
3 天橋未成兩岸急 Anxiety upon both banks as the celestial bridge yet be complete,
4 長年一刻此夜語 Long is the year for this night’s moment of words.

1 Moonless night.  The full moon does not appear until the first or the15th of the lunar month.

2 Magpies are considered as good omens for they are the first creatures to appear when spring begins. It is a joyous occasion that severe cold is finally over. Silver River is a poetic name for the Milky Way.

3 This line refers to the yearly reunion of the Heavenly Spinning Maid and the Cowherd.

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

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

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

The Bothersome Moon

漏滴夜寒月更煩 More bothersome is the moon than a cold night with the dripping clepsydra,
風吹葉落花香散 The wind blew, leaves a fallen and fragrance of flowers in scatter.
琵琶數年牆掛靜 For many a year, the lute hangs upon the wall in silence,
燭影輕掃舊日彈 And flickering shadows of candlelight strum gently of yester tunes.

Friday, May 5, 2023

A Walk In Friendship Park

Another creation while walking in Friendship Park. The photo sort of inspired me to write something. The place was quiet in the sense that there was no human made noises such as traffic. It made one feel so peaceful especially when the weather is not too hot. Too bad that there is no seating around. It would be nice to veg out for awhile, just looking into the blue sky.

獨步幽徑黄花開 Strolling alone on a quiet path where yellow flowers bloom,
一陣清風迎客來 A gust of refreshing wind as if in welcoming a guest.
掃盡紅塵心頭怨 Sweeping away all resentment of the mortal world from the heart,
背後陽光暖碧海 And from behind are the rays of the sun warming the ocean blue.

Monday, May 1, 2023

Lonesome Night

This was created in my mind while jogging. The 2nd line was the first to form but in the end works best in the current location.

1 遠見烏雲近何憂 Why worry at the looming dark clouds nearing from afar?
2 惟有月色無限愁 Except that the moonlit sky is in boundless sorrow,
3 春雨盡夜熬煞人 Repressive it is for an entire spring night in rain,
4 葉下添上鴛鴦繡 Let an added embroidered pair of Mandarin ducks be under the leaves.

2 “sky” is not directly mentioned in the text. The line literally translates as “moon color” to mean a moonlit scene and since the moon is in the sky…

3 熬 means to endure and one of the meanings of 煞 is a variant form of 殺. Figuratively the atmosphere is so oppressive that it is like a killer.

4 Mandarin ducks symbolize fidelity and true love as they are thought to mate for life. What is not explicitly expressed is that since it was difficult to sleep, might as well spend the time embroidering. A pair of Mandarin ducks under the lotus leaves is a common theme in Chinese motifs.

Sunday, April 30, 2023

Yearning

1 天河銀點漸西暗 The Celestial River dotted in silver began to dim as they journeyed west,

2 力倦杯傾醉眼沉 Strength a weakening, cups a tilt and droopy eyes descended.
3 醒後莫曉玉露去 Upon awakening, whereabouts of jade dew, I know not,
4 夢中何處春光禁 And in dreams, where is Springtime being imprisoned?

1 The Milky Way is known as the Celestial River.

3 Jade dew symbolizes autumn. Like mists, they also represent things of impermanence. Jade here does not signify the green color. The favorite jade color of ancient Chinese is the mutton fat white color. The dark spinach green color, known as the imperial green was highly favored by the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi.

Monday, May 1, 2023

Love Of Once A Upon A Time

The first two lines came out of a doodling session before my jog and the rest were done after that.

1 風吹葉落秋時晚 The wind is blowing, the leaves are falling and it’s late into autumn,
2 林滿楓紅人未還 Red is the forest of maples but the person has not returned.
3 一重山隔萬里遙 Separated by a range of mountains, it’s like ten thousand miles away,
4 舊日銀河早已殘 And the old Silver River had long been withered.

4 The Milky Way alludes to the true eternal love of the Heavenly Spinning Maid and the Cowherd. How can mere mortals be compared to celestial beings?

Saturday, April 29, 2023

On A Sunny Day

These were taken in Friendship Park, San Pedro. Catalina Island, is as usual enshrouded in thick fog on a very sunny day…

1 滿山碧草黄花開 The hills are filled with green grasses and blooming yellow flowers,

2 蓬萊白雲紫烟蓋 Engulfed are the Blessed Isles in white clouds and purple mists.
3 西邊陽光東岸暗 Sunshine brightly upon the west and dark are the shores in the east,
4 莫見仙人渡苦海 Nary an immortal seen crossing the Ocean of Bitterness.

2 Penglai, one of the three Immortal Isles in the Eastern Ocean.

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

3 If Catalina Island is to represent Penglai, the cardinal directions should be reversed since it geographically west of the US mainland.

4 Buddhism views the mortal world as an ocean of bitterness where one must able to cross in order to get salvation. This line means that there is no immortal trying to help mortals to cross and be released from suffering.

Thursday, April 26, 2023

Celestial Ruling

This was inspired by the purple ice plants blooms on the slope of a neighbor’s house during my daily jog…

1 紫花蓋滿綠山坡 Purple flowers covering all over the slopes of green,
2 莫有蜂蝶採蜜過 Nowhere are bees and butterflies gathering nectar.
3 禁許見景觸凡思 Forbidden are such scenes to prevent earthly desires from arising,
4 瑤池依然天誡破 Still, there be infractions to this celestial ruling from the Jasper Pool.

1 Purple is a sign of fairyness, especially tinted clouds of this color. However, from the last two lines, the scene in this line describes the fairyland.

2 Bees and butterflies flying among the flowers is a poetic interpretation of flirtation between the sexes.

3 Immortals are forbidden to marry mortals but there are many such stories about them breaking the law. All perpetrators are heavenly maidens!

4 The Jasper pool is a located in the gardens of the Queen Mother of the West, somewhere in the Kunlun mountains.

Thursday, April 27, 2023

In The Real World

 

While doodling, this was composed in one sitting… However, I felt it was too direct. 不願醒came into mind as I was waking up in the next morning…

1 蓮池月色宴歌聲 A moonlit night in the lotus pond and sounds of banquet songs,
2 千杯難逢不願醒 ‘tis rare that to meet a thousand cups and nary a wish to sober up.
3 一夜春雨夢舊日 One rainy night of spring to dream of old times,
4 五更啼雞面虛情 Upon the hour of fifth, a crowing rooster faces relations of not real.

1 The reflections of the night on the lotus pond can be seen but not touched nor the music but only heard.

2 The thousand cups of wine are personified to provide buddy warmth, comfort, support, familiarity etc. Of course, the amount taken is an exaggeration. If taken literally, alcohol poisoning would ensue.

3 Spring, rain, etc. denotes propagative properties of nature. It doesn’t take a leap of imagination to figure out what this line actually means. This line also hints of the long departed halcyon days of youth.

4 This is a very loaded line! From the previous line, this line infers a huge age gap. We do not know if the older partner is unable to love physically or if the younger partner entered into the relationship is for something other than love.

The theme is expressed in the last two lines is that in a virtual world of make believe, feelings are real whereas in the real world, all relationships have an ulterior motive. It does not matter if any equitable exchange exists or not. “Fair exchange is no robbery”.

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Spring Wind In The Night

While doodling with my calligraphy, this came out from my brush, 一陣春風醒花眠 but was unable to continue. During my jog, I decided that it would be best if it became the punchline. Then using 眠 as the basic rhyme...

1 來去急急是年年 Hurried are the comings and goings of the passing years,
2 重見柳樹蔭門前 And, once more seen is the willow tree shading the front of the house.
3 後庭撲蝶鳥歌時 ‘tis time for birds to sing and a courtyard game of leaping at butterflies,
4 一夜春風醒花眠 For spring wind of one night wouldst wake flowers from their slumber.

2 門前 – literally “in front of the gate”.

3 It is a game where young women play by trying to catch butterflies with their round silk fans.

Saturday, 22 April 2023

Lunar Companion

After refining the 池塘碧綠靜無風, I had the following line came into my mind but could not continue further, 橋上明月照江銀 and had to leave it as it was.  A few days later, as I practised my calligraphy by writing the first line over and over again that I finally had a lead...

1 橋頭蟾宮照波銀 Silvery are the rippling waves at the bridge head where the Toad Palace shines,
2 靜伴寒影渡故人 Quietly accompanying and helping a lonely shadow of an old friend cross.
3 莫道悲哀喜樂時 Speak not of the times of sorrow or joy,
4 千古依舊獻殷勤 As time immemorial, unfailing to offer solicitous support.

1 Referring to the moon as it is also the residence of the three legged toad. It is believed that this toad has a fondness of gold and kept the gold in its stomach. It can be coaxed out through making the toad spit out the contents. Perhaps, it is the reason Naruto’s wallet is in the shape of a frog/toad. In Japanese, the word for frog, 蛙, kaeru has the same pronunciation as “to return” 帰る or 返る.

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

2 寒 means cold. The first line implies that there is a wind blowing because of the waves. Figuratively, the meaning can be extended to mean “poor” as in 寒窗 where the owner is too poor to buy a candle for his night reading and has to rely on a bare window for the moonlight to shine through. When one is poor, there are lesser friends around!

渡 means “to cross” and extended to mean “salvation” as in the Buddhist phrase 普渡眾生, universal salvation for all sentient beings. The mortal world is seen as a 苦海, “sea of bitterness” and needed to be crossed before reaching nirvana.

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Married Wrongly

While practising in writing the character, 夜, I wondered about other characters that rhyme with it. The first that came into my mind was 斜. From then onwards, three lines came flowing forth and was able to complete it before my jog began.  During my jog, refinements were made, and a second stanza was created.

1 柳月彎彎斜 Curvy is the crescent moon in declination,
2 依舊照寒夜 Still shining upon a night of cold.
3 瓊液暖何人 For whom does the jasper elixir is cozying to?
4 温醨向誰借 And, whose cheap wine I can borrow to warm?

5 長門斷根草 Uprooted grasses of the Gate of Eternity,
6 金屋花影謝 Withering flower shadows in the Golden House.
7 水流久無偶 And if time passes long enough, lovers nary be,
8 錯嫁郎心野 Wrongly married to a heart filled with scheming ambitions.

1 A crescent moon is so called a “Willow moon” is its shape looks like willow leaves.

3 The finest wine is served in jasper goblets. It could mean that the author is drinking it but does not warm her heart no matter how good it is.

4 Wine dregs and hence inferior wine. Together with the previous line, it is better to have someone to be with than no one at all even he is a nobody.

5 The Gate of Eternity is the name of the place where the now deposed Empress Chen Ah Chiao’s was imprisoned. Lifting an idea from Li Po’s “妾薄命“… 昔日芙蓉花，今成斷根草.

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

6 When Emperor Han Wu Ti was a child, he boasted if Chen Ah Chiao were to become his wife, he would build her a house of gold. Most probably, he was coached by his mother to say such words to impress the Princess Imperial, Ah Chiao’s mother to help him gain the throne. See the link of previous comment for the full story. No longer the empress, and banished from court, she is now a shadow of herself.

7 Originally, I had the line as 流光戀無人, “time cherishes no one” with 戀 used as a verb. I find that this is quite ordinary. Turning it into an adjective, the meaning changes to “given enough time, even lovers are no longer” is a better choice. Then I discovered that 人 was used in the previous stanza and so I had to change the wording.

8 郎 is used as a pun for 狼, a wolf. 野心 is scheming ambition - not a good trait to have. This line establishes that the poem is not about the deposed empress because the subject in the poem still loves her husband but he loves his ambitions more. Hence, even the circumstances are vastly different, the result is the same – loneliness.

Thursday, 20 April 2023

Palace Lament

I had an image of a lotus pond in summer but could not think of a theme to go with it. It was not until today that after watching a Youtube Video on some other classical poetry and a background of a windless lotus pond that I was finally able to complete it.

1 池塘碧綠靜無風 Green is the lotus pond and all is quiet without the wind,
2 花影豈能暗香送 How can fading fragrance of the withering blooms be conveyed?
3 百金萬堆伴寂寥 Ten thousand piles of hundred gold pieces are companions to Loneliness,
4 長門買賦更何用 Of what use is the Gate of Eternity buying a poetic essay?

3 The amounts are not literal, just poetic exaggeration.

4 The Gate of Eternity is the name of the place where the now deposed Empress Chen Ah Chiao’s was imprisoned. It was reputed that she paid a hundred pieces of gold for a poem to be written to win back the emperor’s love.  Sima Hsiang Ru got rewarded by the emperor for his talent but she remained alone.

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

Monday, April 17, 2023

Forbidden Taste

Another inspiration while doodling with a brush and an idea from Dragon's Egg... Was completed during my jog.

1 宮牆柳外野花香 Outside the willow walls of the palace, fragrant are the wildflowers,
2 玉蟾莫登青樓上 Nary to the Jade Toad go but to the green bowers went.
3 禁規瑣琗樂何有 Where is joy when so many trifle palace rules are in place?
4 凡裕忌少喜無量 Unlimited bliss is in the plebian realm where taboos are few!

1 Willows represents palace women and wildflowers, those from the brothels. Nothing is more desirable than than forbidden fruit.

2 Jade toad, reference to the three legged toad that dwells in the moon. How imperial women, with the exception of the empress, were presented to the emperor depends on his taste. One thing for sure is that some rigid protocols are followed without exception during those routine sessions. For example, after the “assassinated” attempt on Emperor Chien Lung’s life when he tried to be amorous with the reluctant the Fragrant Concubine 香妃 into submission, she drew out her dagger and wounded him on his arm. Hence forth, all women were presented naked and wrapped in a thin blanket after she was checked out by the eunuchs and be carried to the imperial chambers. She would lie on the bed unrolled under the covers and waited for the emperor to come. During the rain and mist session, she is expected to remain silent because of decorum rules for a virtuous woman! I am sure what initial excitement there was, would be reduced to humdrums.

Green bowers is a poetic name for whorehouses, places of pleasure or the courtesan herself. The original meanings were imperial palace rooms, grand structures of nobility and boudoirs of the nobility. After the Tang dynasty, the meaning was changed. With unfettered rules in the art of the bedroom, there will always be more excitement than in the palace. It was even said that Emperor Sung Hui Tsung had an underground passage built directly from his palace to the brothel for his visits with Li Shi Shi (李師師) so as not to lose face.

Another example is that of Emperor Tung Chih of the Ch’ing Dynasty and he contracted syphilis.  He died because the imperial doctors used the methods of treating smallpox as the fiasco would be an embarrassment to the imperial family. With him out of the way, the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi could name a new ruler under her thumb.

Saturday, April 15, 2023