Bygone Dreams

 

This poem came about when I answered this Quora question about can a foreigner with knowledgeable modern mandarin can understand literary Chinese. The last line of the poem came into my mind. The poem was completed while I was jogging in the day.

1 後庭月明夜寒風 The night wind is cold as moon bright hangs over the inner courtyard,
2 前殿臘燈十里紅 But candlelight from the front outer palace is bright for ten miles.
3 一滴珠淚池影醉 One teardrop of a drunken face reflected in the pond,
4 長門曾經金屋夢 When once upon a dream, the Gate of Eternity was a house of gold.

1 Implies loneliness, sadness and hope by the imagery of the singular moon that is bright and yet the winds are cold.

2 There can be two interpretations for this line, the new favorite was being lavishly entertained in the front palace where important occasions or ceremonies were held. So many red candles were used that the place could be seen for ten miles. Red candles are used because the color is considered auspicious. White candles are only used for funerals. The second interpretation is that the protagonist was thinking of her old wedding ceremony and that red silk was used for ten miles, an exaggeration, of the procession route to welcome her to the palace. The only person we know of having this luxury for her marriage was the first empress of Han Wu Ti.

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

Friday, September 15, 2023

Looking Back I

Forcing a mental exercise on my brain to elevate boredom during my jog…

慷慷激昂醉桃花 So fervent are the passions that peach blossoms become inebriated,
微微暗笑引年華 With half hidden smiles to encourage the young men to continue.
葉下鴛鴦雨露恩 Under the leaves are mandarin ducks in love,
寂寞仙子淚滴灑 Lonesome fairies in shedding tears.

I was not satisfied and so this version came during a trip to Costco…

1 桃花含笑醉春風 Smiling peach blossoms intoxicate the spring wind,
2 年華無處不染紅 Nary a place where youth is, not tinged with red.
3 寂寞高樓低望人 Lonely high tower looking at people down below,
4 曾似昨夜一短夢 As if they were like short dreams from last night.

1 Flowers anthropomorphized by pretty young girls and the guys, the spring wind. This line implies flirtation from both sides of the aisle.

2 Red, the color of youth in bloom.

3 Envious old men in their lonely positions of power leering at the young crowd on the street, wishing that they can be part of vibrancy of youth again.

4 Resigning to the fact that no matter, dreams are just dreams.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

Dreams Of The Floating World

During a jog…

1 越更高向群星散 The higher the ascendency is, more stars will disperse,
2 獨霸九霄照人間 Alone in hegemony over the Nine Heavens, shining over humankind.
3 浮世笑容醉樂夢 Smiling faces exist only in drunken dreams of the floating world,
4 何須醒後對塵煩Why then be bothered to wake up and vexed by the mundane world?

1 越 is used as a pun for 月. The moon glows brighter as time passes since total darkness engulfs the world. All weaker celestial lights are dimmed out.

2 There are nine heavens in Chinese mythology.

3 “floating world” means the transient nature of the pleasure world. Everyone is smiling with you because of your high position.

4 “dust” or “red dust”, 紅塵 is a Buddhist term for the mortal world.

Friday, July 28, 2023

How True Is Love?

This was created as I was in the stage when my dreams were fading away and on the threshold of awakening. Realized that 鳥 rhymes with 飃. Completed during my jog…

同林樹雙鳥 In the forest, two birds dwell in one tree,
風動枝葉搖 The winds came and when the boughs and leaves began to sway.
南北各自分 One flew away to the north, the other to the south.
情空恩䀆寥 Lonesome it is when love is gone.

A common saying, “Husband and wife are actually two birds in the same forest. When adversity comes along, each would fly away on its own” - 夫妻本是同林鳥, 大難臨頭各自飛.

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

A Tale For The Moon

During my evening jog… 伏and 遐 were suggested by ChatGPT

1 天涯日息夜海霧 At the edge of the world where Day rests and ocean fog of night sets in,
2 船泊浮伏聽波濤 Bobbing anchored boats listening to the sound of waves.
3 鷗鳴一聲破遐念 Cry of the gull broke my thoughts of distant past,
4 莫見星河向月訴 I see no stars of the Milky Way, I told my tale to the moon.

Monday, September 11, 2023

Pleasure Dreams

The first four characters were formed in the night but during my jog the next morning, the poem was completed…

1 湖水烟霧鎖舟前 The fog and mists of the lake engulf the path of the boat,
2 於心難捨別殘眠 My heart could not bear to leave my crumbling slumber.
3 醒見素衣紅塵蓋 Now awake, the red dust of the earth is clothed in white.
4 寧可夢裡醉千年 I rather be drunk for a thousand years in my dreams.

1 The mists and fog represents life’s obstacles that blocks one’s future

2 Taking refuge in sleep.

3 White clothing implies the color of the fog and mists and is also a color for mourning.

4 Escapism

Sunday, September 10, 2023

The Silvery Light Will Keep Us Together

During my evening jog, I looked up into the sky. There were a group of clouds like floating islands in the sky. The top parts were white and at the bottom, dark as night. A few minutes later, they became totally black…

1 半邊白雲半邊黑 Half a white cloud, half in black,
2 夜臨無聲迎誰客 Night quietly approaches, welcoming any traveling guest.
3 華燈初上胭脂紅 Brightly lanterns just put up and the rouge is fresh,
4 唯有銀光不相隔 Only the silvery light will not separate us from being apart.

3 Nightlife comes alive with brothels in full swing.

4 The silver light comes from the ingots of silver used as currency in ancient China.

Friday, September 8, 2023

Parting

Woke up around 3am and this first line suddenly came into my mind…

1 幾度黄昏金葭首 How long in the evening will reed tips be gilded into gold?
2 隨風逍遙客難留 Carefree like the wind, ‘tis difficult to retain a wandering heart.
3 共手朝別依不捨 With reluctance, still clasping your hand, you parted in the morn,
4 觸景晚來更添愁 And now things remind me how more fretful nights had become.

1 金 when used as a verb means “to make something into gold”. 昏 has many meanings, “to darken” as in 昏暗, “befuddled”, as in 昏君, to faint, to become hazy as in 昏迷. 黄昏 literally means “darkening of yellow” etc.

2 客 is someone who is temporary at a location, i.e., a guest or wanderer.

3 共/拱手 is the clasping of hands raised to the chest level as a respectful sign of greeting. Used here as a respectful sign to delay or even to hold on to the departing person physically.

4 晚來 is the keyword of the poem. It can be interpreted in three ways:

a. “coming of the night” - sorrow in the night.
b. “coming late” - the full gamut of emotions did not hit fully till much later.
c. “old age”. This poem laments about youth fleeting away from one’s life.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Night Lament

While jogging in the comfort of a cool evening…

1 彩袖紅霞鬥胭脂 Colorful sleeves and peach bloom cheeks vie with her rouge,
2 月色飛舞醉瑤池 Under the moonlight, her dances in the air inebriate the Jasper Pool.
3 賽比嫦娥更抱怨 Compared to the Goddess of the Moon, more aggrieved,
4 梅苑芳襟淚誰知 Tearing on fragrant lapels in the plum garden who knowest?

1紅霞 red/fiery clouds usually imply the rosiness of sunrise or sunset and on occasions, the natural peach bloom on the cheeks or from inebriation or rouge. Textually, it is the red cloud design on the sleeves or clothing because in the next line, there is a shining moon. Only when the last line is came into being, that this is the case.

2 Jasper Pool, the magical pool of the Queen Mother of the West. The line describes the luxury and sumptuous event in the imperial palace.

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

3 Chang Er, the Goddess of the Moon leads a lonely life in the lunar palace to get away from her husband. Her companions are a white rabbit, a three legged toad and an immortal Osmanthus tree. 賽 also means “to surpass”. We do not know if the lament is coming from Yang Guifei as the first two lines hint of an operatic scene from the Drunken Imperial Concubine, 貴妃醉酒 when Yang Guifei had a tiff with the Emperor when he went off to see another favorite, leaving her alone in midst of a banquet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/beijing-opera/the-drunken-concubine.htm

4 This line suddenly shifts the scene to those even more unfortunate. 淚 is used as a verb. From the viewpoint of the Plum Concubine, Yang Guifei’s beauty is fake, relying on artificial means to enhance her beauty. Fragrant lapels are used as a contrast to the gaudy colored sleeves in the first line. The real message is that natural beauty cannot be compared to those of bewitching ones.

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

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Imitating The Masters IV

 AC Tang posted a poem, “White Cloud Spring“ by 白雲泉 by Po Chu’i…

天平山上白雲泉，
雲自無心水自閑。
何必奔衝山下去，
更添波浪向人間

He tried a version based on the master's, entitled he Blue Sky, 碧雲天 壬寅孟春, following the original rhyming.

樓高一覽碧雲天，
天自无心吾自閑。
懶叫春風飄雨露，
坐聽造物弄人間。

As for my version, an inspiration about a desert lake of tranquility. One thing leads to another, my theme morphed into the Japanese tale of Hagoromo (羽衣) and the Chinese 7th Fairy.

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

1 九霄嚴規瑣碎寰 Nine Heavens is a place filled with trifle regulations,
2 七仙無聊倦壓閑 And the seven heavenly maidens are bored and tired with leisurely hours.
3 難得偷渡下凡趣 Rarely a chance for them to steal down to the earth for fun,
4 天池羽衣在人間 Left at the Heavenly Pool in the realm of mortals is a feathered cloak.

1 Chinese believed that there are nine levels of heaven. There are many rules governing the denizens of Heaven. One main regulation is there is no intermingling with mortals. Flouting this law can lead to dire consequences including death to the offender. Despite of this, there are many such stories.

2 Technically, there are no fairies in Chinese mythologies. The closest equivalent are female immortals of great beauty and they don’t have wings like in British tales. Because of popular misunderstanding, the accepted translation is now the “fairy” terminology usage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Fairies_(China)

4 This refers to the lake in the Heavenly Mountain range.

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

Friday, August 25, 2023


However, I didn't feel that it was refined enough and that another stanza was needed. Then came my 41 days trip to Asia. Didn't have much time until I was bored on the flight across the Pacific Ocean or in a tour bus that I finally was able to refined the poem.

1 九霄嚴規處處難 Everywhere in the Nine Heavens is filled with severe regulations,
2 七仙無聊偷下凡 Bored are the seven heavenly maidens stealing down to Earth.
3 天池羽衣盜取去 And in the Heavenly Pool where a feathered cloak was stolen,
4 莫非借意伴人間 Could it be an excuse to remain as a companion to the mortal world?

5 東君何惜春日好 The Lord of the East does not cherish the beauty of a spring day,
6 暮雲方解玉露煩 But evening clouds would understand the vexations of jade dew,
7 晦魄環照各面愁 And as time passes, each faces their own sorrows,
8星河豈答今夜闌 How could the Milky Way answer the desolation of tonight?

1 Chinese believed that there are nine levels of heaven. There are many laws inflicted upon the denizens of Heaven - absolute no intermingling with mortals without permission. Flouting can lead to dire consequences including death to the offender. Despite of this, there are many such stories that went against this rule.

2 Technically, there are no fairies in Chinese mythologies. The closest equivalent are female immortals of great beauty and they don’t have wings like in British tales. Because of popular misunderstanding, the accepted translation is now the “fairy” terminology usage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Fairies_(China)

3 This refers to the lake in the Heavenly Mountain range in Sinkiang.

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

5 The Chinese sun god representing spring to mean youth.

6 The dew formed in autumn. Here they mean the tears of one’s autumn years.

7 The first four characters comes from a line in the Thousand Character Classic, 璿璣懸斡, 晦魄環照.

晦 is the last day of the lunar month when the moon wanes (朔 is the first). The first light of the new moon is魄. The term for full moon is known as 望. 環 means a cycle, a rotation in this context ie the moon is going through its cycle in the month. In the context of the poem, interpretating it to mean the earth is also acceptable. The sorrows refer to the denizens of Heaven longing for the mortal world while mortals long for the heavens.

8 This line means that each group has their own reasons for their sorrows. This poem is about not to be rash in their actions until they understand the reason for rules being made, otherwise one will regret in time.

Thursday, December 14, 2023