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