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