The first time we met, like in real life,
We were introduced by someone one afternoon,
On a Monday, specifically, July 23, 2018.
Then, like two passing ships in the night…
I enjoyed the moments watching you,
Intriguing me and seducing me to know what is yet to come.
The sun had set.
We continued till it had risen once more high into the sky.
Your story had ended and I bid thee a farewell,
Journeying into my own dreams - knowing that we will never meet again.
Almost five fleeting years had passed…
Almost five fleeting years had passed…
By serendipity I saw you while searching for something else.
Your general features - well remembered but details totally forgotten.
Being old acquaintances, we sat down and peered into your pools of limpid depths.
Once more, the night passed quietly but too quickly.
The sun was on the high again when you departed.
This time, a sirenic song lingered - the same song which I had not noticed before.
Its melody haunted my soul,
Its lyrics tugged at my heart as I inspected them closely.
Sudden inspirations came surging
And six poems sprang forth from my soul to match your voice.
首逢若人生中之相引.
Then a second version came and I could not decide which is better and so both were kept.
1 夜闌飛霜雪 Snow flurrying in the late of night,
2 天河銀星缺 And silvery stars of the Celestial River are gone.
3 人寤夢寐時 Upon wakening when dreams are asleep,
4 畫中看明月 Just look into the painting where the bright moon is.
Then came a seven character per line version...
The first is an inspiration is from the word, 搔 from the song 宮牆柳 (Willow By The Palace Wall). Later some elements from the song.
1 月影纖枝宮牆柳 Slender are moonlight shadows of willow boughs upon the palace wall,
2 音斷曲存纒高樓 The sounds had ended but its melody still lingers within the high towers.
3 銀河萬星豈知缺 How could the myriad stars of the Silver River realize their deficiency?
4 舊夢燦時莫曉愁 Neither would sorrow be understood during heydays in dreams of old!
5 宮牆柳舞醉翩翩 Delicate is the drunken dance of willows by the palace wall,
6 淚霑飛袖歎水流 Fluttering sleeves dampened in tears, sighing away at the flowing waters.
7 難訴往日黄粱恩 ‘tis difficult to speak of the love in a yellow millet dream of old,
8 新春騷盡玉簪頭 And new springs agitate most upon a head bedecked in jade hairpins.
1 Willow symbolizes female beauty. The leaves like curved eyebrows, the slender boughs like dainty fingers and the trunk, slim waisted. “Palace wall flower” means a lady of beauty that had been overlooked or neglected by the emperor.
首逢若人生中之相引.
某一之周一午下,
年時為廿一八, 月為七, 日為廿三.
猶似二船夜逝, 背向行.
望餘歡招, 使我心生好奇, 惑我欲知尚未來臨.
夕陽已墜, 聚合仍續.
東日重高方竟.
幕謝相別夢中去,
自曉再無遇.
匆匆五載將已近…
匆匆五載將已近…
尋別凑巧重圓.
容止仍識, 細節全忘.
既為故舊同相坐,
細看斯人眼深淵澄.
次度靜夜, 去時太匆匆.
又別再次, 醉日懸三竿高.
昔曲無異, 此刻纒綿迷魅.
當日未察, 今刻洞鍳,
今聆縈魂, 詞句牽心.
靈緒驀湧,
詩綻六首魂催出,
與餘心聲相配.
Friday, June 16, 2023
These six poems were inspired from the songs from the Chinese series, Yanxi Palace (延禧攻略, literally, "attack strategies from the Yanxi Palace).
Friday, June 16, 2023
These six poems were inspired from the songs from the Chinese series, Yanxi Palace (延禧攻略, literally, "attack strategies from the Yanxi Palace).
This came about from a song’s title from Yanxi Palace, 雪落下的聲音. 寐 was inspired by a line from 千字文 - 晝眠夕寐, 藍筍象牀.
1 夜闌寒霜雪 Cold frost and snow in the late of night,
2 天河萬星缺 And the myriad stars of the Celestial River are gone.
3 夢寐難重逢 Even when dreams come a visiting, ‘tis difficult for a reunion,
4 獨酌伴孤月 A lone toast with the lonesome moon.
2 The Milky Way
3 Literally, “dreams asleep”. “come visiting” is implied.
4 Because of the cold, dreams are difficult to form and…
1 夜闌寒霜雪 Cold frost and snow in the late of night,
2 天河萬星缺 And the myriad stars of the Celestial River are gone.
3 夢寐難重逢 Even when dreams come a visiting, ‘tis difficult for a reunion,
4 獨酌伴孤月 A lone toast with the lonesome moon.
2 The Milky Way
3 Literally, “dreams asleep”. “come visiting” is implied.
4 Because of the cold, dreams are difficult to form and…
Then a second version came and I could not decide which is better and so both were kept.
1 夜闌飛霜雪 Snow flurrying in the late of night,
2 天河銀星缺 And silvery stars of the Celestial River are gone.
3 人寤夢寐時 Upon wakening when dreams are asleep,
4 畫中看明月 Just look into the painting where the bright moon is.
Friday, June 09, 2023 - Friday, June 16, 2023
1 夜闌人靜夢寐醒 The night is late, people a quiet, dreams come and go,
2 天缺燦時銀河星 And in the sky, the brilliant Milky Way is absent.
3 房中寂寥何此亮 Such deafening sounds of loneliness in the room!
4 窗外雪落否有聲 And do then, snow falling outside have any sound?
1 Literally, “… dreams sleep and wake”
2 Literally, “The sky lacked the time when the stars were brilliant in the Milky Way”
3 Literally, "In the room where noise of loneliness is so loud”. 亮 also has the meanings of “loud and clear sounds” (嚮亮, 洪亮) or to cause things to make loud sounds (亮開嗓子唱).
4 Literally, "The outside of the window, snow falls… Do they have any sound?”
1 夜闌人靜夢寐醒 The night is late, people a quiet, dreams come and go,
2 天缺燦時銀河星 And in the sky, the brilliant Milky Way is absent.
3 房中寂寥何此亮 Such deafening sounds of loneliness in the room!
4 窗外雪落否有聲 And do then, snow falling outside have any sound?
1 Literally, “… dreams sleep and wake”
2 Literally, “The sky lacked the time when the stars were brilliant in the Milky Way”
3 Literally, "In the room where noise of loneliness is so loud”. 亮 also has the meanings of “loud and clear sounds” (嚮亮, 洪亮) or to cause things to make loud sounds (亮開嗓子唱).
4 Literally, "The outside of the window, snow falls… Do they have any sound?”
Friday, June 09, 2023 - Thursday, June 15, 2023
1 月影纖枝宮牆柳 Slender are moonlight shadows of willow boughs upon the palace wall,
2 音斷曲存纒高樓 The sounds had ended but its melody still lingers within the high towers.
3 銀河萬星豈知缺 How could the myriad stars of the Silver River realize their deficiency?
4 舊夢燦時莫曉愁 Neither would sorrow be understood during heydays in dreams of old!
5 宮牆柳舞醉翩翩 Delicate is the drunken dance of willows by the palace wall,
6 淚霑飛袖歎水流 Fluttering sleeves dampened in tears, sighing away at the flowing waters.
7 難訴往日黄粱恩 ‘tis difficult to speak of the love in a yellow millet dream of old,
8 新春騷盡玉簪頭 And new springs agitate most upon a head bedecked in jade hairpins.
1 Willow symbolizes female beauty. The leaves like curved eyebrows, the slender boughs like dainty fingers and the trunk, slim waisted. “Palace wall flower” means a lady of beauty that had been overlooked or neglected by the emperor.
3 The Celestial River is the Chinese Milky Way. The stars represent the multitudinous favorites of the emperor without realizing that their brilliance had been eclipsed by the full moon as implied in the first line. The stars still think they are visible in the heavens.
5 It could be the movements of the shadows moving languidly as if they were in a drunken state. In sorrow, she got drunk and began to dance by herself - reminiscent of the story, the “Drunken Imperial Concubine” when Yang Gui Fei drank to a stupor when the emperor did not show up for the night banquet she had prepared for him because he went to see another favorite.
6 Now we know for sure that the previous line is about the person and not the tree. Flowing waters denote the passage of time. 飛 is used as a metaphor for hope to flee from the palace and fly into the sky but is constrained by the tear soaked sleeves. 霑 has more coverage or deeper penetration while 沾 means lightly moistened or stained.
7 Also known as the Dream of the Yellow Sorghum. A variation of the “Dream of the Southern Bough”. I translated this story from the original source. If, interested, it can be found at http://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2011/02/dream-of-southern-bough-chinese-antz.html after the footnotes and comment section.
8 Ancient Chinese prized the mutton fat white color of jade above all other colors. Green is now the color most associated with jade as it was most favored by the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi. White is a color of mourning - thus reminding her of her mortality whereas green is associated with spring and youth. 騷 means “to disturb” and 搔 means “to scratch with the fingernail” and is not a simplified form for 騷 but骚. However, some dictionaries indicate that it is so. 搔頭 means hairpins and not scratching the head!
Lyrics of "Willow By The Palace Wall"
宮牆柳玉騷頭 Willow by the palace wall, jade hairpins.
5 It could be the movements of the shadows moving languidly as if they were in a drunken state. In sorrow, she got drunk and began to dance by herself - reminiscent of the story, the “Drunken Imperial Concubine” when Yang Gui Fei drank to a stupor when the emperor did not show up for the night banquet she had prepared for him because he went to see another favorite.
6 Now we know for sure that the previous line is about the person and not the tree. Flowing waters denote the passage of time. 飛 is used as a metaphor for hope to flee from the palace and fly into the sky but is constrained by the tear soaked sleeves. 霑 has more coverage or deeper penetration while 沾 means lightly moistened or stained.
7 Also known as the Dream of the Yellow Sorghum. A variation of the “Dream of the Southern Bough”. I translated this story from the original source. If, interested, it can be found at http://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2011/02/dream-of-southern-bough-chinese-antz.html after the footnotes and comment section.
8 Ancient Chinese prized the mutton fat white color of jade above all other colors. Green is now the color most associated with jade as it was most favored by the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi. White is a color of mourning - thus reminding her of her mortality whereas green is associated with spring and youth. 騷 means “to disturb” and 搔 means “to scratch with the fingernail” and is not a simplified form for 騷 but骚. However, some dictionaries indicate that it is so. 搔頭 means hairpins and not scratching the head!
Lyrics of "Willow By The Palace Wall"
宮牆柳玉騷頭 Willow by the palace wall, jade hairpins.
纖纖紅酥 Slender delicate rosy hands
寂寞酒鎖春愁 Wine of loneliness locked in the sorrows of spring
往事難開口 ‘tis difficult to talk about bygone matters
往事難開口 ‘tis difficult to talk about bygone matters
揮揮長袖帶不走 Try brushing away with the long sleeves but they won’t leave,
相思那堪憂 How can one endure these thoughts of lovesickness?
一覺黄粱夢醒後 Upon waking from the “Yellow Millet” dream,
閑話到頭 And all trivia talk comes to an end.
閑話到頭 And all trivia talk comes to an end.
隨風走 Follow the wind and leave,
一步一叩首 One step, one bow,
愛悠悠 恨悠悠 Forever loving, forever hating,
做繭自己囚 A cocoon made for self-imprisonment.
誰說恩愛永不朽 Who says love never decays?
碎了千金裘 Like destroying a thousand gold piece fur
碎了千金裘 Like destroying a thousand gold piece fur
一夢醉 Drunken in a dream,
倒望江樓 Looking at the inverted reflection of a tower by the river
管他萬古愁 Heed no longer the sorrow of the ages.
Friday, June 09, 2023 - Thursday, June 15, 2023
1 白雪無情不屈錯 Harsh is the white snow – yielding to no wrong,
2 紅牆有意難相助 The red walls are willful – unable to help.
3 三步一叩遍六宮 One kowtow upon three steps taken, sweeping through the Six Palaces,
4 御庶妒心否同醋 Jealousy of an emperor or commoner, isn’t vinegar the same for all?
1 Two textual interpretations: It could mean that the snow is harsh towards evil doers or that in spite of harsh weather, the person would not yield to injustice.
2 Palace walls are painted in red, hence represents imperial authority. Here it refers to the emperor himself. Again, more than one interpretation. Does the emperor has the intention to help but unable to help due to various reasons or that he is bent on punishing the offender and no one dared come forward to help. The second interpretation is the inspired version. The last two lines lend to this credence.
3 There are six palaces that forms the Inner Court of the Forbidden City where imperial women lived. The Outer Court is for governance and administration. This line implies a vast area had been traversed by the offender.
4 “to eat vinegar” means jealousy, especially resulting from lovers etc. It came from the story during the reign of Tang Tai Tsung. The prime minister, 房玄齡 was deathly afraid of his wife. When the emperor found out, he would bestow upon him a concubine to overcome this fear. Of course, the prime minister dared not accept the gift. The emperor then sent a cup of poison wine to the wife that if she does not obey, then she can drink it so that the new woman can become the main wife after she was gone. To the surprise and horror to everyone, without blinking, she drank the wine in one gulp declaring if she was dead, she would remain the first main wife. Of course, it was a test from the emperor. The cup was filled with vinegar instead. The emperor gave up on his scheme to cower this strong willed woman.
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 - Thursday, June 15, 2023
1 朝烟慵慵纒宛宛 The morning mists coiling in sinuous laziness with no intention to leave,
2 露珠倦壓葉尖懸 Leaf tips laden with languid dewdrops hanging precariously.
3 微風稍動處境危 Even more so in the sway of gentle breezes…
4 紅牆深鎖無限怨 And endless regrets locked deeply within the Red Walls.
Monday, June 19, 2023
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