Asia Trip 2023 Inspiration III - When Sunshine Stealing In

While lying in the hotel bed, this first line in black came into my mind but could not go further even though there were many ideas…  The poem was refined and completed in the next few days.

1 春風鳥語金屋外 Outside the house of gold are twittering birds in the spring air,
2 靜塵獨看銀鏡内 In the silver mirror are silent dust are seen gathering.
3 妝台莫見多年影 So many years had nary a shadow be seen at the dresser table,
4 一道朝陽竊進來 And yet a shaft of morning sunlight stealing into the room.

1 Allusion to the story of the First Empress of Emperor Han Wu Ti

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

2 Either the dust on the mirror or the reflected image of the dusty room.

Tuesday, November 13, 2023

Asia Trip 2023 Inspiration II - A Lute Melody For One

While having breakfast at the Hilton Hua Hin Executive Lounge, I had an inspiration on this poem… refined during the trip back to Bangkok and completed in Le Meridien...

1 明月散盡夜黑空 The bright moon dispels the darkness of the sky,
2 荷塘水冷花去紅 Lotus pond waters are cold now that the red had faded from its blossoms.
3 燭搖影纏難入眠 ‘tis difficult to sleep with annoying shadows from the candle,
4 琵琶一曲高樓夢 One melody from the lute for a dream in the tall tower.

1 The bright moon represents the vibrancy of youth. The dark represents the no longer youthful. In other words, the person had been replaced by someone new.

2 The coldness not the waters infer to the ardor of the man’s heart now that the once desired object is no longer young.

4 This line hints that either the lady in question is the unattractive wife of some wealthy person or that she is no longer a popular and desirable courtesan. This is because brothels are usually multi-storied buildings.

Saturday, November 11, 2023

Asia Trip 2023 Inspiration I - Eternal Spring Shrine

This was inspired by the scenery at the Shrine of Eternal Spring.

1 朝雲山影翠綠橫 Morning clouds casting shadows on mountain swaths of green,
2 立霧碣石清溪閑 And on the rocks the fog stood with the clear stream in leisure.
3 飛巖浮紅長春祠 Floating red of the Shrine of Eternal Shrine floats upon sheering cliffs,
4 月照無人水流行 The water still flows even when the moon shines upon no one.

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Spring_Shrine

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Translation Inspiration

“Like a morning dream dissipating into whispers of memory” came from a Facebook post. It was a challenge for me to translate into classical Chinese. ChatGPT's: 晨梦散成留影聲. Not bad but not good idea. In the end, I came up with one and thus a poem to go along with it.

1 如夢朝散語影中 Like a morning dream dissipating into whispers of memory,
2 花香回味縹緲紅 And lingering fragrance of flowers reminded me of their heyday beauty.
3 雲厚霧輕歲月流 Clouds are thick and mists became dissipates as time progresses,
4 古松依舊看窅蓬 And yet ancient pines still gazing quietly at the reeds.

2 Red represents the color of youth.
3 Some are long buried while others, in the process of being forgotten.
4 Compared to pine trees, reeds have shorter lifespan - the beautiful die young and old and ugly doesn't!

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Memories Of Once Upon A Time

It was the last day before leaving Fleur de Chine by the Sun Moon Lake.Photo of the early hours of the lake which inspired this poem. The first time I was here was 45 years ago in 1978. I was 23 then…

1 輕紗朝陽日月潭 The morning sun lightly veiled over the Sun Moon Lake,
2 愁雲醉鎖碧嶺難 Difficult for melancholy clouds to douse green mountains into stupor.
3 昨夜春宵曾經夢 Last night was like a former dream of youth,
4 萍水重聚何刻還 A world of floating duckweeds, wouldst reunion be of once more?

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Moon_Lake

2 Despite the morning mists, the far away mountain ranges are still visible. They represent past memories that Time tries to fog up.

3 Last night – my past; spring - my youth and dreams – existence of intangibility in the mind

4 The hither and thither of duckweeds floating on water represents the uncertainty of the world. In other words, when will I be back at the Sun Moon Lake again.  I know I won't be back but Fate has a different way to change one's resolve.

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Tamsui Sunset

1 隨行伴影風, Along where pedestrians are, the accompanying wind follows,
2 夕陽淡水紅. Upon the Fresh Water River is a sunset in red.
3 殘霞若久閑, And if the fading fiery clouds are at leisure,
4 必定在夢中. Then a dream I must be in.

5 瑤池夜夜醉 Every night inebriated by the Jasper Pool,
6 桃源朝朝逢 And each morn, at the Peach Blossom Spring we meet.
7 西岸觀音山 Upon the western bank where Mt. Goddess of Mercy is,
8 冷月笑古松 Coldly smiles the mocking moon at the ancient pines.

1 I am taking poetic licence here since in reality, there was no wind and the heat is oppressive and too humid for my enjoyment of the place!

2 Tamsui is the name of the area or the third longest river in Taiwan. The name means “fresh water”.

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

5 Into a dreamlike setting.  The magical pool belonging to the Queen Mother of the West.

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

6 Another term to mean paradise.

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

7 Back into reality. From the location where the photos were taken, the mountain is on my left. It is so called because it resembles the reclining Bodhisattva.

8 “mockingly” is implied in the Chinese context. The pine represents the poet while the moon represented the beauty that is no longer with the poet.

https://english.tku.edu.tw/TamsuiScenery-detail.asp....

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Youthful Follies

Trying to sleep on the plane even though it was an Eva Business Class seating…

1 難入夢鄉心思鎖 'its difficult for dreams to enter when the heart is besotted by thoughts,
2 無知少年萬處錯 And too many places where naivety of youth can go wrong.
3 秋時落葉不留人 Sparing no one like falling leaves in autumn,
4 黄花滿地風吹過 The wind just blows over the ground where the yellow flowers are.

4 Yellow flowers can either mean withered flowers or chrysanthemums. 

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Meeting Once More

Start of my 2023 40 day trip to Asia. It was last year on Aug 15th that I first came to know this Star Alliance Lounge. Don’t remember much about the interior but the outside seating area and the subpar food I did...

There was movement and the place seemed alive with the flickering fire and light effects...

In the day time the blue lighted wall was just green vegetation staring at you in silence.

重聚相見記當初 Once more we meet, I thought of the time when we first met,
去年一夜伴暖火 It was a night… of last year, and welcomed by the warmth of fire.
微風細語光影牆 Gentle is the whispering wind, flickering light and a wall of shadows,
今日默對翠綠儍 Today in silence, just a silly fool of green.

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Just A Spring Dream

This was composed in a dream...

1 橋頭柳蔭伊人影 A glimpse of thy presence at the bridge’s head by the willow’s shade,
2 急步前上接相迎 In hurriedness to thee I approached in welcome.
3 高麗滿地花香遍 Tall and handsome - the very ground permeates in fragrance.
4 一陣春風掃夢醒 When alas, a gust of spring wind swept me awake from my dream.

1 Literally, a shadow in the shade of the willow tree.

3 高麗 also means Korea.  Thus hinting the person is of Korean descent.

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Reluctance

This came to my mind suddenly, 粉黛紅 and gave rise to the first line after many revisions during my evening jog…

1 夕陽何苦掛天空 Why does the setting sun still lingers in the sky?
2 殘光難恃粉黛紅 For its dying rays could hardly rely on their rouge of red.
3 蓬萊隔別辭無語 Paradise had left with nary a word of goodbye,
4 仍舊莫棄此生夢 And yet unwilling to abandon this dream of life.

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Broken Promises

The first line came to me while I was trying to sleep…

1 後庭銀月照空清 In the backyard I see silvery moon shines alone in the empty sky,
2 獨霸九霄莫容情 Monopolizing the Nine Heavens and showing no mercy to others.
3 一斛珍珠兩行淚 One bushel of pearls and two rows of tears,
4 冷笑梅林花不盛 Laughing coldly at the Garden of withering peach blossoms.

5 靡恃七夕長生誓 Take not granted at the vow made at the Palace of Eternal Life,
6 何守五更馬嵬明 Nor be protected when dawn breaks at the Mawei Slope.
7 凡塵恩怨夢長短 Whether love and grudges of the mortal realm be long or short,
8 烟雨人生豈得停 How can life’s ephemerality be ever stopped?

1 空 means sky, not empty and清 means nothing remains. There is nothing in the sky to vie with the brilliance of the moon.

2 Chinese believe that there are nine levels of heaven.

3 This is the pivot line and reveals the encoded meaning of the previous lines. The story is that the previous favorite of Emperor Tang Hsuan Tsung, the Plum Concubine had been replaced by Yang Guifei, the new favorite. One day, the emperor thought of the former favorite and felt remorse of neglecting her. He sent a bushel of pearls secretly as compensation. However, the concubine would have nothing of it since when love had changed, nothing can be a replacement and wrote a poem to that effect,

柳葉雙眉久不描, Willow shaped brows no longer painted,
殘妝和淚污紅綃. My ruined makeup from tears stained my red silk robes.
長門盡日無梳洗, No need to pretty myself in a life of the Eternal Gate,
何必珍珠慰寂寥 So, why the need to have pearls to console my loneliness.

In the end, the emperor had her poem set to music.

Ballad of the Eternal Gate -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Jiao

4 The Plum Concubine was very fond of plum blossoms and hence her title. In her heyday, in order to please her, the emperor would have every genus of plums be scoured in the empire to be planted in her garden.

5 Another pivot line alluding to the vow made by the emperor and Yang Guifei on Seventh Night at the Palace of Eternal life, pledging that their love will be eternal.

6 When the Changan was sacked during the An Lu Shan rebellion, the imperial entourage escaped but a mutiny broke up at the Mawei slope and in the end, the emperor had no choice but to save his skin by allowing her execution through strangulation.

8 Though life is fleeting, we all won’t want to have this party to end.

Friday, October 13, 2023

Forgotten Humiliation

While jogging saw some red sunset clouds mixed with some dark one as the night was descending.

1 黑點紅霞夜臨快 Red clouds in dotted black as night comes swiftly,
2 華燈初上一律排 As rows of bright lanterns just being lit.
3 白日慮遣晚來休 Worries of the day – repose of the night,
4 船舟静泊登秦淮 As boats quietly parked alongside the river of Qinhuai.

5 萬花樓台瑤池影 The House of Myriad Flowers are mere shadows of the Jasper Pool,
6 千杯莫懷國恥棄 Humiliation of the country is easily forgotten by a thousand cups.
7 人間夢短今宵醉 Dreams of the mortal realm are short and let’s be drunk tonight,
8 上樑不正下樑歪 For it the upper beams are not straight, neither would the lower ones be.

4 The red light district of ancient China.

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

5 A typical name for brothels. “Flowers” here refer to “women.

8 This is a popular Chinese idiom to mean if the upper echelons are corrupt, so would its underlings. This poem is written with how loyal officials felt and given up their hopes of recovering lost lands when the Northern Sung Dynasty collapsed when the forces of the Liao Dynasty sacked the capital and took the entire imperial family of Sung Hui Tsung and himself as prisoners. A distant scion of another branch escaped and established the Southern Sung Dynasty. Obviously, he was in no hurry to ransom back the former emperor who died in captivity.

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Life is Good When Youth Is Around

Another jogging inspiration…

1 日落西山霞飛嶺 The sun setting upon the hills; fiery clouds soaring past the peaks,
2 少時無功今刻病 Youth has no achievement but now aged - besotted with illness.
3 一世霧水人間夢 A lifetime of befuddlement in a mortal’s dream,
4 莫道不慕仙子命 Speak not that no one envy the lives of immortals.

1 The setting sun represents old age. The mountain peaks represent the barrier to life and death. 霞 means rosy clouds of sunrise or sunset. I chose “fiery” is a better word choice than “rosiness of youth”.

2 Passing the imperial examination for one to escape the lower rungs are dreams of the countless throughout Chinese society.

3 霧水 figuratively, “fog and water” means “can’t see clearly”. This line talks as if the poet was a banished immortal as punishment to suffer the ravages of mortality and realizes that a mortal’s life is but a dream.

4 This line implies that the banished immortal had realized the error of his ways in that it is good to be a mortal when youth is around!

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Six Sensualities

In the beginning, I was inspired by this title of a Cantonese melody called, 平湖秋月, Calm Lake Autumn Moon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkc2N944k0o

I came up with the line, 平湖秋水明月靜.  Later,  I was distracted by this sunset photo 

The white clouds look like Apsaras and stumbled on this Chinese dance video of them...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieX7z4jnsVg

Some parts of its music acted as a sort of initial inspiration that this line came into being.

飛天紅霞夜未臨

Combining with the original line the first two lines of the poem was formed. However, the music was too short with the human chorus to complete the poem. Finally, I stumbled on another video. What caught my attention was an effeminate Chinese guy dancing in a modern style with some women in a traditional background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZHKSFNXEYs&list=RDMZHKSFNXEYs&start_radio=1

The music, the singer’s voice and the dancing captivated me at the wee hours of the night was able not only to complete the poem. Then I mistook some words in the subtitles of the song as 指塵一揮. Searched on Google to see if there’s any deeper meaning to it. It didn’t and stumbled an article about 六塵 (Six Senses) and the theme of the poem changed and was able to add the second stanza. Didn’t go to sleep until it the two stanzas were completed. It was 5am already but was very satisfied as ChatGPT rated the poem as a solid nine. Found out the name of song until the next day when I began to add commentaries to the poem. It is called 勞燕歇.

1 飛天霞追侍夜臨 Night attending Apsaras chase away the rose-coloured clouds of sunset,
2 湖平水靜晚色沉 As calm lake waters await for the colours of night to descend.
3 彈指未揮秋月明 Before fingers had flickered across the zither, the autumn moon turned bright,
4 往事回味銀河深 Taste of old memories returned as the Silver River is deep.

5 桂堂雲烟悠遠夢 Clouds and mists had obscured the Osmanthus Hall, a dream of a leisure past,
6 蘭亭逍遙醉思心 And of carefreeness in the Orchid Pavilion numbs the heavy heart.
7 勞燕分隔缺六塵 Fatigued are the parted swifts and the Six Sensualities still incomplete,

8 玉杯愁液待一斟 Waiting for the yet-be-poured wine of sorrow into the jade chalice.

1 The wispy bluish-white clouds are my imagination of Apsaras herding the remnants of sunset into the faraway pen of night.

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

3 彈 has two different pronunciations for the verb or adjective form. As a verb, it means “to strum” and as an adjective to mean “flickering”. 彈指一揮 means either “easily” or “in a blink of an eye”. In using, 未, “not yet” means even faster than a blink of the eye i.e., time passes too quickly in this frame of mind.

4 Silver River – the Milky Way, a reference to the tale of the Cowherd and the Heavenly Spinning Maid.

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

5 The Osmanthus Hall symbolizes one had successfully passed the imperial examinations and achieved the status of the top three candidates which entitles them to move up to the top rungs of societal ladder.

6 The Orchid Pavilion refers to the place where the greatest Chinese calligrapher had written a preface to a drinking outing with his literati friends. It has been rumoured that this greatest piece of calligraphy, 蘭亭序 was stolen by Empress Wu from her former husband her instead. We won’t know if this was true until her tomb is opened. It was not catalogued by the warlord who looted the emperor’s tomb when the Tang dynasty collapsed. 思 is a homonym of 詩 as in “poetic”

7 Swifts and swallows are considered to be symbols of fidelity. This line was inspired by the lyrics of the song, 勞燕歇 (Tired Swallows Are Resting). I had changed the word 飛 to 隔 as I like my poems to be free from repeated characters. “Six Dust” in Buddhism means the six sensualities of

色, sight implied in lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
觸, touch implied in line 3
聲, sound implied in line 3
味, taste implied in line 4
法, mind, thoughts implied in line 4, 5, 6

So far “smell” has not been implied in any way or form. 缺 can also mean “lack of” and can mean that all the six senses are absent. This will need context to resolve the ambiguity of the line. Using 未, “not yet” would solve the problem but doesn’t sound as good and that the character had been used.

8 Finally, the last sense of “smell” is implied even though it has not appeared yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80yatana

Monday, 09 October 2023

The lyrics and translation of 勞燕歇 (Tired Swallows Resting).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQmisq9wsy4

只嘆她回眸秋水被隱去
Sighing only away at her back glances, her autumn-like watery eyes are being hidden away,

只憶她點破去日苦多
Reminiscing only in how knowingly she understood about the bitter days of bygone,

借三兩苦酒方知離不可
With two or three cups of bitter wine wouldst then knowing parting is inevitable.

只嘆她將思念搖落
Of her, only in sighs and thoughts swayed to smithereens.

心多憔 愛付與東流的水
My heart – so wan and sallow - paid dearly in love and given away like the east flowing waters,

捨命奉陪抵不過天公不作美
Risking my life to be in your company but unable to defy Heaven’s will in not having a beautiful destiny for us.

往事回味不過是彈指一揮 

The after taste of memory past - no more than a blink of a strum across the zither,

日復日望穿秋水恕我愚昧 

Forgive my foolishness for looking into your eyes, day after day,

你愛著誰 心徒留幾道傷
To Whom wouldst thou love? For emptiness is the heart bearing scars,

我鎖著眉最是相思斷人腸
My knotted brows in frown for it’s the most painful thing is a broken heart from longing,

勞燕分飛寂寥的夜裡淚兩行
Tired swallows in separate flights with two lonely rows of tears in the night,

燭短遺憾長故人自難忘
Of regrets that candles are burning low, of thee - unforgettable from the past,

你愛著誰心徒留幾道傷
To whom thoust had loved? Emptiness is the heart bearing scars,

愛多可悲恨彼此天涯各一方
Love’s so pitiful from hate of this separation from opposite edges of the world,

冷月空對滿腹愁無處話淒涼
The cold moon I can face but brimming sorrow from within, nowhere words can express,

我愛不悔可孤影難成雙 

Of no regret is my love but a solitary shadow makes no two.

When Things Are No Longer Of Use

Again, another jogging inspiration… The initial line has now become the last line.

1 楓葉初紅漸心傷 Breaks my heart to see the first signs of maple leaves turning red,
2 十月紈扇金鏤長 And in October, silk fans are kept in golden gilded boxes.
3 巢歸鳥語時今靜 Chattering of returning roosting birds are now of no more,
4 無情風冷掃夕陽 And heartless cold winds sweeping away at the setting sun.

1 When maple leaves turn red, the beauty of the place won’t last for long as winter comes soon 金 afterwards, and everything turns bare.

2 Continuing the theme of the previous line. In the old days, these round silk fans were used by ladies and young girls of high positions for summer use to ward off the heat and as a pastime to catch butterflies (撲蝶) in the garden. When summer is over, they are no longer used and kept in boxes. This infers that things are discarded or put away once their usefulness is gone.

3 For those living in the city, one cannot imagine how noisy roosting birds can be. An apt metaphor of a social gathering after a hard day’s work by the well in a rural village. However, this does not last long as twilight is short-lived.

4 The sunset is gone and the chattering stops, as if swept being away by the night wind. On a deeper level, whatever remaining beauty is also gone and thus their usefulness. Ancient Chinese women view themselves as playthings of men unless their positions are elevated by becoming mothers, especially when there are sons to carry on the family name.

Friday, 06 October 2023

Meteor Tears

The impetus of this creation is the last three characters of the first line when it came to me from refinements for some earlier poem. Was able to complete after my jog and a great way to alleviate boredom.

1 風過池水夜細語 Over the pond, the wind passes as whispers of the night,
2 牆西影弄柳蔭處 And upon the wall where willows are, shadows are teased in sway.
3 默對九霄空如人 Yet gazing silently into the clear skies filled by emptiness of love bygone,
4 不禁天降流星雨 And Heaven could not help itself but to weep a rainstorm of shooting stars.

1 The main imagery in this line and the next are the indirect manifestations of wind through sounds made by ripples and the sight of dancing shadows.

2 Willows symbolize the female form. Hence, this poem is written from the viewpoint of a woman. The wall is the silver screen in which past events are being replayed.

3 The pivot line where things take on a more concrete and direct form - lovers, clear empty night skies and meteor showers. Chinese believe that there are nine layers of heaven.

4 Just using nature as a scapegoat for her emotions.

Thursday, 05 October 2023

As I was about to ink this poem with the brush, I found that the first line rhymes better as 風過池水夜語細. Had to redo the entire poem for the new rhyme.

1 柳蔭影弄騙牆西 Shadows of dancing willows deluding the walls on the west,

2 風過池塘夜語細 And wind over the pond, like whispered murmurs of the night.
3 覓盡九天空如人 Nine Heavens searched in vain, emptiness like thy presence of nowhere,
4 淚雨流星霑塵世 Drenched upon this mortal world are wept tears of shooting stars.

1 The slenderness of the willow represents the feminine form. Shadows on the west wall indicate the setting moon.

2 With the previous line, they describe the scenery reminded of the good times in the past.

3 There are nine levels of heaven in Chinese mythology.

Thursday, 19 October 2023

A Summer Place

My translation of the lyrics of A Summer Place as a single line of four characters...

There's a summer place 夏日一方
Where it may rain or storm 若雨或霣
Yet I'm safe and warm 安然無冷
For within that summer place 夏日之範
Your arms reach out to me 有君臂擁
And my heart is free from all care 逍遙無憂

For it knows 心知肚明 

There are no gloomy skies 天無陰霾
When seen through the eyes 情人西施

Of those who are blessed with love 有緣有份
And the sweet secret of 夏處甜秘
A summer place 情侶天涯
Is that it's anywhere 九州四海
When two people share 所有共有

All their hopes 二人希望
All their dreams 比翼綺夢
All their love 鶼鰈恩情

Yet I'm safe and warm 安暖未失

In your arms, in your arms 在君懷擁
In your arms, in your arms 懷中懷中
In your arms, in your arms 君臂情懷

Saturday, September 30, 2023

I wanted to do a poem totally in a Chinese way using the theme of the song. Even under the haunting melody of the movie’s theme I could find no inspiration. Went through several iterations during my evening jogs and nothing special happened. I had difficulty in the rhyming and imagery…

Then one night while listening to another movie theme music of another Troy Donahue’s movie, Parrish that some mental obstacle was dislodged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz70Ttx3epk

The original first line, 夏日祕處廿六春 became the third line with appropriate changes. Still, the journey was rocky. During my jog, the idea of having the first line as 難逢偶遇千杯少 gave me hope. Just before going to bed, the third and fourth lines coalesced. I was happy and able to sleep. Then in the middle of the night, I woke up and suddenly, the first and second lines came into being, like melting icicles dripping away under the eaves sweeping away the last of all the encountered obstacles. When I woke up the next morning, I was able to complete it.

1 難逢綺夢渡春宵 ‘tis rare to pass a spring night with a beautiful dream,
2 蓬萊無限醉逍遙 Where boundless carefreeness of paradise inebriated by endless elixir…
3 夏日祕處若然雨 And if rains do intrude upon this secret summer place for two,
4 葉下相偎一傲笑 Under the canopy of leaves, in cuddles - laughing defiantly at the face of adversity.

1 I used 渡 instead of 度 to emphasize the physical crossing rather than the state of the idea.

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Penglai

3 The pivot line, the gist of “A Summer Place”

4 What’s not said but implied are the first four characters to represent Mandarin Ducks taking refuge under the lotus leaves during a summer rain. Lotus are symbols of symbol, the ducks – fidelity and rains to represent adversity. Ties nicely with the previous line. 傲 means “to defy” with pride. Thus, 傲笑 means to laugh haughtily at things of no consequence as long as they have each other.

Wednesday, 04 October 2023

Mid Autumn Festival 2023

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival and the sky is cloudy. I am sure that it will be too at night and the moon will be obscured. I had one poem already composed for the occasion but with the new circumstances, it would be as great and so had to come up with another. Completed after my jog.

1 夜臨中秋蔽月霧 Night approacheth Mid-Autumn with fog veiling the moon,
2 烏雲密聚嘉州佈 Dark clouds densely gathered and spread all over California.
3昔比今非莫要愁 Fret not in sorrow as the present is unlike in the past,
4 畫雕壁映嫦娥到 With walls etched in images of the Moon Goddess descending.

1 The use of fog is to imply that the low-lying areas cannot view the moon.

2 Implies there’s no need to go to higher places or elsewhere either since the entire state is obscured.

3 The pivot line turning to hope because we are now living in a modern age.

4 There is no direct mention of “descending”, “my room” in the original. These are used to capture a more vivid imagery to the translation. What is unspoken in the original is understood. Here the images refer to a video being played on giant wall TV.

Friday, 29 September 2023

No Shop Talk

A few days ago, I could not think of what comes after 金風玉露 and so I put it away and totally forgot all about it. I suggested to the Poetry Group on FB when someone wrote that Mid-Autumn is coming this week that to celebrate it, we could all contribute a poem for the occasion. That guy agreed wholeheartedly to the idea…

This was completed during my jog.

1 金風玉露宴交情 Amid the banquet, feelings of the golden wind and jade dew exchanged,
2 酒滿高樓仍未停 Free flow of wine fills the lofty towers with signs of no stopping.
3 舉杯接觴政莫談 One lifted pint to toast, gallons returned with no talk of politics,
4 月到中秋分外明 The moon is especially bright during the Mid-Autumn.

1 Golden wind – autumn air has that kind of crispy feel to it and because the lowered temperature of the season, dew forms easily, hence these two terms are used to mean the time of autumn. At the same time, they represent things of no permanence. The use of banquet alludes to the most important event of the season – the mid-autumn festival. There is the element of frivolities in a party.

2 高樓酒滿 is not as colourful. 滿  used as a verb, “to fill”. The use of “lofty” sets up the scene for the last line. Frivolities at the party never cease.

3 The first four characters are from the Thousand Character Classic - 舉杯接觴, 悦豫且康. I decided that using the literal translation did not work well to paint the exaggeration. 杯 means cup and 觴 is a goblet or stein, a much bigger vessel than a Chinese wine cup. https://daxueconsulting.com/understand-drinking-culture-china/

4 This comes from 馮夢龍’s ”醒世恒言卷十八”. The preceding line is 人逢喜事精神爽.

Thursday, 28 September 2023

In The End, Everything Is A Dream

While trying to catch up with the diary as the strains of the violin from 彩雲追月serenaded my thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4kPycSXHj4

1 天無飛雪梅未紅 No fluttering snow in the sky and plum blossoms yet to be reddened,
2 長江水流東海逢 The Yangtze is long but will eventually meet the Eastern Ocean.
3 霧鎖高山凡塵隔 Mist enshrouded lofty mountains separating from the earthly realm,
4 風雲世間總是夢 Winds and clouds of the mundane world, are in the end is but a dream.

1 Implies that winter is coming or that winter is here, but the harsh cold has yet to arrive since there are no indications of snow. Usually, plum blossom blooms best after a severe snowstorm.

2 All Chinese rivers flows in an easterly direction and empties into the Eastern (Pacific) Ocean. Flowing water symbolizes the flow of time. In using the longest river to represent the life’s long journey. Everything in the mortal world will end up in the same place – in the realm of death. Immortal Isles of the Eastern Ocean can be a euphemism for death.

3 Heavily fogged mountains thought to be inhabited by immortals. Textually, the lofty mountains are the barrier between the realms of the dying and undying and the river is the conduit.

4 Wind and Clouds means turbulence of the living, i.e., wars etc. In the end, everything is ethereal because one cannot bring them to the next world, except, perhaps regret.

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

For A Better Night

This was inspired by a scene of the moon floating a sea of moving clouds in a video posted by someone in the FB’s poetry group…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHauPKN2l6U

1 雲海月明逆西去 Upon the sea of clouds, the bright moon sails west against the flow,
2 清心獨照凡塵醉 Shining alone in purity, inebriating the mortal realm.
3 世間烟霧今宵蔽 Alas, the mundane world is obscured by the fog and mist,
4 容許再夜憧憬聚 Let tomorrow night permit us to meet fervently once again.

1 Originally, I used 船 as a verb as a novelty idea but it didn’t sound good in the scheme of things.

2 Since the previous line has the image of the moon, using廣寒清心凡塵醉 was redundant.

3 I didn’t use 風雲 since the “cloud” character is used in the first line. I don’t like to have repeated characters in my poems unless it is for sound effects. 

4 Implies that when the world is finally at peace, people can enjoy the beauty more leisurely. This ties back to the first line’s implied sense of urgency for the moon to set quickly, to begin another new night and hopefully, the world had changed for the better.

Friday, September 22, 2023

No Colored Clouds Chasing The Moon

九月露滴夜明珠 came during the night first. Couldn’t go forth from there and had to juggle a bit to become the second line. The poem was not completed till the next morning during my daily jog.

1 月照池塘花影處 The moon spotlights on the pond where reflected flowers are,
2 荷葉露滴夜明珠 A dewdrop upon a lotus leaf is like a night glowing pearl.
3 共同獨酌遠傳鶯 Together drinking in loneliness is a distant song of a nightingale,
4 天無追雲流星雨 Nary a moon-chasing-cloud in sight, but a rainfall of shooting stars…

1 照 means “to shine” but is translated as “to spotlight” is to set up the scene for the next line.

2 夜明珠 is well known in literature. It is even mentioned in the Thousand Character Classic” - 劍號巨闕, 珠稱夜光. However, no one had seen it. It could be just a poetic expression as we know scientifically as no pearl will emit a glow on its own naturally in total darkness.

3 The first two lines paint of a night scene of luxury and serenity. Now with this sudden change of tone descending into loneliness (drinking alone etc..), the underlying implication is that when the wealthy and powerful deem something or someone who is precious i.e., of use to them, it becomes a treasure even if it was ordinary to begin with. This is not unexpected because a treasure is kept away from prying eyes but only be admired to a selected few.

This reminded me of a story of Chuang Tzu. Two emissaries from the State of Chu came to the philosopher who was fishing by a river, announced that he has been appointed by the king to govern the internal affairs of the state. Chuang Tzu said, “I have heard of a tortoise who had died three thousand years ago. Your king had it encased in a golden box to be honored in the temple hall. Wouldst thou think the tortoise preferred death and be honored as such, or to merely wag its tail happily in the mud?”

4 追雲 refers to 彩雲追月, “Colored Clouds Chasing the Moon”, a popular Cantonese melody from the later Ch’ing Dynasty period. The title implies “a flight of immortals on clouds to the lunar palace”. The music describes the simple but happy rural life in a village. This line infers that now the “treasure” had been elevated so high that even clouds could not approach. Heaven is so sad for its loneliness, that it even weeps in form of shooting stars. If I didn’t have to use 雨 as a rhyme, “天無追雲雨流星” (… raining shooting stars) sounds better to me.

On a traditional Chinese zither

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA9zDjZa44s

A Japanese version as 南の花嫁さん, Minami no Hanayome-san , “Bride From The South”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Lzwq-Klts

A Dutch rendition, capturing the Dutch way of life. Listening to it enhances my mind’s imagery, lifting my spirit to other realms unwittingly and my heart’s yearning for the stars as I write.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4kPycSXHj4

Thursday, September 21, 2023

Love Like An Elusive Butterfly

Having a mental exercise during an evening jog…

1 走遍天涯海角遠 To the ends of the world and far flung corners of oceans…
2 恢心多年誰能勸 For many a year who could console the broken heart?
3 庭後池映花初發 Gazing at courtyard pond reflections of flowers in bloom…
4 門前春風敲良緣 Lest spring wind comes knocking at the front door with romance.

1 What is being searched is not known until the next line.

2 Did the consolation worked and continued the search? Or that it had failed and the search stopped.

3 Now we know that the consolation did not work and the poem is now at home staring at his dreams of love indicated by reflections in the pond.

4 Another advice to stop moping around for love as it could be knocking at the front door, don’t give up hope and go forward once more.

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Our Secret

 

A few days ago, while jogging in the evening, the evening sky was filled with fog like clouds in pale pink while the bottom part of the sky was in deep blue. It was a pretty sight. I tried to come up with a line to describe it elegantly but nothing came out of my mind until tonight.

1 斜陽還照西海巖 The slanting sun still shines upon the western ocean cliffs,
2淺紅上浮雲底藍 Floating clouds in pink tops and blue bottoms.
3銀點黑夜九天河 Dotted in silver is the night sky from the Nine Heavens river,
4風動星雨者知三 And when the wind blows, stars overfloweth - only three in the know.

1 This was written in California and so the western sea is the Pacific Ocean.

2 The blue comes from the reflected ocean.

3 The only river in the sky is the Milky Way. There are nine levels of heaven in Chinese mythology.

4 The cause of meteor showers are only known by the wind, the stars and the poet.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Oh What Fun!

 

During my evening jog…

1 九月初夜月當空 Early nights of the month of nine, when the moon is up in the sky,
2 蓮池烟霧再莫紅 The fog upon the lotus pond – no longer red.
3 輕紗紈扇金鏤箱 Light gauze and the silk fan are now kept in the gold engraved boxes,
4 後庭何趣伴古松 Of what fun is there in the back courtyard accompanying old pine trees?

1 Implies that summer is over and autumn is here.

2 Lotus or water lilies represent summer. Literally, the fog is hiding the lotus blooms from view or that summer is over and no more blooming occurs.

3 Light silk clothing are worn in summer and silk fans are used by ladies in the old times to catch butterflies as some kind of sporting fun. Figuratively to mean that when love is no longer needed, they are discarded or kept away.

4 Now that the colors of summer is gone (youth), it’s no fun looking at old age!

Monday, September 18, 2023

Sad State Of Affairs

昨夜明月夜長風, from the previous poem was too good to be relegated into the dusty corridors of the mind. After some thinking, it was morphed into something different when 風 became 烽. So, my first foray into a poem about war…

1 遠見城池夜長烽 From afar, beacon fires alight the city and moat throughout the night,
2 草原飛箭雨淋紅 Arrows came flying from the grass steppes raining in blood.
3 東西二京焰重演 Twin capitals of the east and west came burning as if in reenactment,
4 震破難眠國憂夢 Shaken awake by worrying dreams of the nation – ‘tis hardly the time for sweet slumbering.

2 From the north, the traditional place where invasions took place. Hence the Chinese were never prepared when “invasions” came from the east from the ocean.

3 The first four characters were taken the Thousand Character Classic. During the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was known as the eastern capital 洛陽東都 or the Divine Capital, 神都 known during Empress Wu’s times. Chang An was the western capital. From this line, we can assume the poem is about the An Lu Shan rebellion.

4 Translating literally won’t be as heartfelt.

Friday, September 15, 2023