One Snowy Lantern Festival's Eve - 雪夜元宵前夕

This poem began its life as a sarcastic retort but in the end, the deeper meaning could be applied to anyone including myself!

娥兒傲氣壓乾坤, The lunar amour-propre oppresses even Heaven and Earth,
銀光捫雪漸西沉. Silvery light stroking1 the snowscaped as it nonchalantly sets into the west.
夢裡紅梅連夜發, Sweet slumbering plum blossoms of red awakened within the night,
莫待東君無衣新. Wait not the Lord of the East2 arrives without his raiment new.

元宵彩結花鐵樹, On the first Fifteenth Night, colors congregating like giant cycads in bloom3,
金星雨引醉蘭心. Rain-like golden stars4 tempting the hearts of the chaste into joys of inebriation.
玉壺走馬戲鸞鳳, Giant moving lanterns5 teasing the painted phoenixes6,
誰曉昂天近月親. Who would bother to gaze up into the sky and take the moon into their hearts?

1. As if to make the snow white. In TCM, 捫 means to feel the pulse of the patient.

2.The spring wind or the God of the flowers; personification of spring.

3. Cycad’s blooms are a rarity. This is an exaggeration in looking forward to the first fifteenth night of the New Year. The Lantern Festival or the Chinese Valentine’s Night is the only time when both sexes are allowed to intermingle freely.

4.The idea of the first two lines of the second stanza are lifted from 辛棄疾’s《青玉案·元夕》.東風夜放花千樹。更吹落、星如雨。寶馬雕車香滿路。鳳簫聲動，玉壺光轉，一夜魚龍舞。蛾兒雪柳黃金縷。笑語盈盈暗香去。衆裏尋他千百度。驀然回首，那人卻在，燈火闌珊處。

金星 can be translated as the Planet Venus. Of course, in this context, a far stretch idea. The image of the Chinese is of an old man with snowy white hair instead of a ravishing youthful beauty of a Roman love goddess!

5.玉壺燈 are exquisite and intricately made giant lanterns. 走馬燈 has a spinning mechanism that is driven by the heat of the candle inside for primitive zoetrope-like effect.

6. The 鸞 is a mythical bird of divinity; akin to the phoenix. It may refer to the spectators as the combined term can mean the following:

a. the virtuous
b. beautiful people
c. husband and wife
d. the emperor
e. a beauty.

So, take your pick. Any interpretation would fit the context.

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Misty Dream - 烟夢

This idea came into my mind as I was waking up,

雨後烟語兩心傾 After the rains, speaking through the mists, two hearts inclined,
螢前微光二人景 Before the Lilliputian lights of fireflies is a scene of lovers paired.
交杯欲舉共同暖 Just as exchanging cups are to be joined in shared warmth,
雲散緣盡一風清 Destiny ends as mists blasted away by a gust of wind.

In Cantonese, 傾 can also mean “to chat or converse”. 清 as verb means to “be cleared away”. As adjective, it means “pure/fresh”. The last line can also be translated as, “When Destiny ends, the mists are dissipated and gone like a gust of wind/breeze.” There is not enough context to determine exactly what’s in the poet’s mind.

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

Opium Dreams - 鴉片夢

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.

This was posted by someone on italki with her own translation. However, I made it poetic,

生命莫待雨驟過, 來時起舞隨中學.

It is too beautiful a quote to pass up and not have a poem for it.  

However, I spent two days and nothing came out of it.  It was during one of my calligraphy practice that some invisible hand caused me unconsciously to write out 莫待春色過,Wait not till the colors of spring are gone. I did not like the initial draft.  Eventually the five character lines morphed into seven character ones which I believed packed in greater emotion.  Listening to 吻別 greatly helped the mood too.

難信四月就此過 It’s hard to believe that April is already gone like this,

春日花盛闋無多 Heyday of spring is over - blooms no longer in abundance.

雲非地上凡間物 Clouds don’t belong to this mortal world,

鴉片閑浮他南柯 They laze and float in other morphinic dreams of the Southern Bough.

The Dream of the Southern Bough

Wednesday, May 01, 2019

Petal Rain - 花瓣雨

As I was laying down on the chaise lounge on a sunny spring afternoon in relaxation, I espied a few white petals of the Nandina Domestica falling and swept up in dance by a gust of wind. Thus the first line was born,

風微雨花醉日長

Petals raining in the gentle breeze, inebriating all day long,

翠蔭波浪送天香 

Waves of green shades in waft delivering the fragrance of heaven.

倦壓閨房氣悶困 

Trapped in the boudoir of annoying lethargic boredom,

閑徑枝上作紅娘

Let the reds on the boughs of the idle path be my little matchmaker.

Note: 紅娘 is the name of the maid in 西厢記, "The Romance of the Western Chamber", who played the pivotal role of a matchmaker.

Friday, April 26, 2019

Honest Words of Truth - 真言實語

The first line was penned on the completion of this poem but was not completed and finalized until today. Another variation on the same theme. Originally, it was to be just an essay on the fly but somehow halfway, it got morphed into the current structure.

01.二十年間紙上黃, In the course of twenty years, the paper had yellowed,
02.一字一句意中黑. Each word, each phrase, its meaning still steeped in inky black.
03.時光無急不覺去, Time a lazing, unaware that it had slipped by,
04.黎首而今雪蒼白. A Stygian head of then but of now, snowy white.

05.窗外柳插已成蔭, Outside the window, a shafted willow sprig, now a shade provider is,

06.後人高飛遐舉策. The young had flown the coop in search of success afar.
07.夫妻同林比翼鳥, Husband and wife, lovebirds of the woods, flying in togetherness,
08.大限到頭長相隔. Till the Ultimate Demise comes for each other to bid goodbye…

09.舊朋若視空堂孤, To see former classmates, just return to the empty classroom of one,
10.故友重逢地下百. Of old friends once more met, Hades aplenty!
11.盡孝不過眼前烟.Utmost filial the children may be, are like mists before thee.
12.渴望來至終亦客. Eager for their visits but alas, guests they shall only be.

13.富在深山自遠親, Dwelling in the deepest mountains, relatives of the rich come a banging.
14.貧於鬧市送誰帛. As for the poor in the hustle and bustle of the city, none comes bearing gifts.
15.莫恐三更寂寥臨, Fear not of loneliness comes a visiting at the hour of the third watch,
16.好比曲行冷無擇. ‘tis far better than the choice of calling the cold crooked lane home.

17.帳帷暖醉風燭暗, Amid the soft draperies, slumbering in warmth of one’s waning years,
18.難信蓬勃曾一刻. Difficult to believe that once of strength and vigor filled.
19.流離顛沛但己泣, Frittering a life away, hath oneself to weep,
20.真言何須冰心摘. Honest words need no cold-heartedness in choices maketh.
    
1. 上 is a verb not a preposition; hence the pronunciation is different.

2. What was written then is still valid today.

4. From the “Thousand Character Classic”, 愛育黎首.  Who says such arcane study is of no use? “feed the army for three years but used for a moment”

06. Literally, “people of later”. “Flying the coop” is more colorful than just “soaring away”. I chose the meaning of 遐舉 as "attaining cultivation and becoming an immortal" 得道升仙 to mean success. Using the other meaning of 高飛 is redundant.

①遠揚      ：頌聲遐舉。

②高飛      ：遐舉如云雲鵠｜雲無心兮遐舉。

③指得道升仙：修真遐舉    ｜飄然遐舉。

④死的婉辭  ：彼二子之遐舉｜誰不為之痛心哉!

07. 比翼 literally means “adjacent wings” or “wing to wing”.  山海經, “Of Mountains and Oceans Classic”, mentions a kind of birds that has only one wing on one side of its body.  Thus, it cannot fly by itself.  To do so, it needs to pair up with another with a wing on the other side. Later it becomes a synonymous term for loving and inseparable couple.

08.  Literally, the “Ultimate Limit”.  長相隔, “eternal separation”.  To me, “saying goodbye” is more succinct.

09. Peering into the past in one’s mind.

10. 故友 can also mean “deceased friends”.

13.  This has more punch than just “have relatives come a visiting”.

14. Literally, “fine silk”

15.  The third of the five night-watch, i.e. midnight. 

16.  It is harder to see through a crooked lane

17.  Literally, “flickering candle in the wind”, any moment being snuffed out.

19. Again from “Thousand Character Classic”, 顛沛匪虧

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

A Contrasting Spring Like Dream - 對比一塲春夢似

When the previous poem, was completed, this was in the works as a contrast. Also my first time in trying my hand at writing in a lyrical style.

曾經幽徑小路 Once it was a path small and of quietude,

充滿烟霧     Permeated only by fog and mist.

伸指不得見   To which outstretched fingers nary seen,

奈何知曉前途 Alas, alas, how would the road be fared?

今刻車流廣道 Now carriages coursing through this broadened road,

景色全無     But scenery colors are no more.

遊龍飛花盡   The wandering dragon and dancing flowers are of the past,

眷戀往日壯豪 Yearning the then days of vigor.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

A Dream Like Spring 一塲春夢似

Originally this poem was written without anyone in mind. I was lying on the chaise lounge in my gardening enjoying the fragrance of the mock orange and trying for a nap. However, when a friend texted me, I suddenly had an inspiration and massaged the poem to suit him.  After this was completed, a idea of a contrasting one was conceived.

1. 春光麗質蜂蝶勤 Spring, a gift of beauty as bees and butterflies work hard,

2. 翠竹蔭下醉眠人 Under the lush bamboo shade, a person in drunken sleep.

3. 一陣穠芳撲醒來 Along comes a gust of intense dream-waking fragrance,

4. 半清半疑夢中宸  Half Argus-eyed, half wondering if still in a house of splendors.

5. 殘霞漸退彩欲散 Alas, weakening clouds slowly retreat in fading colors,

6. 黄昏難持無限恨 Twilight, with boundless regret, leaves in reluctance.

7. 花落非意枝莫復 Falling flowers of no return, not of desire to abandon any bough,

8. 惟願明月接相近 If only in willingness be, of nearness is the bright moon.

1.Spring by itself is not beautiful but due to the diligence in making it.  Fritter not the precious time you have.

2. The sleeping person is not really drunk but in deep slumber squandering away his youth.

3. The fragrance refers to the sweetness of his dreams.

4. 宸 means a room in a far secluded place area or the place where the God of the North Star resides.  This star is associated with the emperor since its position is unchanging.  Extended to mean imperial apartments etc or an abode of magnificience.

5-6.  Like Rip Van Winkle, to find the years had gone by too quickly, too late for regrets.

7. Old age is something no one wishes for and returning to the past is impossible.

8. How often would Youth desire the company of the penniless?  Foolish whims!
  

Tuesday, April 23, 2019