Life's A Rat Race

This came about when I heard birds singing in the trees during my jog…

1 遠傳林中賽鶯歌 From far yonder came wafting melodies of competing warblers,
2 騷遍樹下靜打坐 Disturbing the tranquility of the meditation under the trees.
3 夏日露出徘徊醉 Revealing summer’s reluctance to be in an inebriated dreamlike state,
4 白雲逍遙遊子過 Unlike white clouds passing through like wandering sons of leisure.

5 綺回曾似舊影淚 Harking back to teary shadows of once upon a time hazily remembered,
6 昨寐甦悟心聲妥 Like from a coma from last night awakened, my inner voice had settled.
7 鼠爭紅塵黃粱夢 Like rats of the Yellow Millet Dream vying for the mundane world,
8 早別何憾接天摩 Of what regrets there be when a closer heaven touched?

1 遠傳 represents the distant past. The songs of forested birds are the pleasures of youth.

2 The meditation represents the maturity and the seeking of inner peace as the protagonist had grown older. 坐 can be used as 座, a seat.

3 Summer represent the prime of life of others and upon seeing these images, the protagonist harkened dreamily but reluctantly back to his younger days.

4 Wandering sons for leisure are considered callous since they made their parents worry for their safety. The protagonist is now older and is no longer like the passing clouds with nary a care for others.

6 甦 carries a sense of reawakening, revival etc., than 醒 which just means to “wake”. The line suggests that enlightenment had achieved.

7 This idea came from “rat race” but translating directly as such seemed out of place in a traditional styled poem. Rats are hoarders, including material wealth and possessions even though they may be of trifle nature. The positive view of “hoarding” is “accumulation” or “securing” for emergencies.

The Yellow Millet Dream is also known as the “Yellow Sorghum Dream”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BC_Dongbin#:~:text=Yellow%20Millet%20Dream,-The%20Daoist%20immortal&text=The%20legend%20has%20it%20that,vice%20minister%20(%E4%BE%8D%E9%83%8E%20sh%C3%ACl%C3%A1ng). under the section of “yellow millet dream”

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

Another variation is known as the Magic Pillow.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chinese_Fairy_Tales_(H._Giles,_1920)/1

Thursday, June 22, 2023