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