Palace Sorrow - 宮怨

Just a mental exercise and to practise my brush writing...

烟雨濛瀧上路人, Misty rains upon travellers of the road,
頭低志喪氣無神. Heads a-droop in dejectedness.
雕車簾垂入宮門, As the carved carriage journeyed into the palace gates,
始今世絕隔外塵. From now on, ties with the outside world severed.

夜幻朝朝君主侍, Nights imagined that I will be serving my Lord each morning,
日念暮暮父母恩. Days thinking of my parental love for me at each night.
滴滴流光碎夢界, Droplets of time slowly shattering my dream world,
茫茫歲月伴星辰. Unending years go by with starlight as my companion.

上路 can also be a euphemism for “to die”.Tuesday, 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Joshua Tree National Park

My first time in Joshua Tree National Park was in 18, May 2018. The reason being that I have never seen the real Milky Way in my life. Seeing it in movies or in the planetarium does not count. It was on a lonely road that night that I laid right in the middle of it so that I don’t have to cringe on my neck. I did not feel the road was hard for my back at all. Finally, when the setting sun was totally gone, the darkness of the sky was marred by distant city lights and a crescent moon. At the same time, my eyesight is not as good as it used to be. Still, I enjoyed the quietude of the place, the warmth emanating from the asphalt and a coalescing poem in my mind… At least something to take back home with,

雲無千里星萬點, Cloudless for a thousand miles and a stretch of countless stars,
瀝青道路塵不嫌. Nary any dust upon the asphalt road.
躺臥觀天温氣升, I see the heavens; I feel the rising heat as I laid on it.
月鉤伴盡醉夢甜. The crescent moon with me to the end, savoring this sweet drunken dream. 

Almost a year later on the last day of July, I was back again, although at a different side of the park. This time is was a moonless light. It was a much better night – no city lights as well. There were many more stars than the last time and I could detect the faintness of the Milky Way. I am sure my eyesight wasn’t any better than the last time. Once more, I had forgotten to bring my binoculars but again, laid right smack in the middle of the road. It was a warm night even though there was no heat emanating from the asphalt. A very much more enjoyable time than the previous one and hopefully so is this new poem,

夜闌月去看星河, The moon is gone and I stared into the Milky Way one late night,
萬點爭輝起風波. Myriad starlight vying with each other causing the wind and waves.
矇朧一時無限恨, A moment of befuddlement, an eternal regret,
老人眼前昨日歌. Before an old man’s eyes but a song of yesterday.

今宵銀漢仍如初,Tonight’s Milky Way is the same as before,
只是路人道中臥. Only through eyes of a traveller laying on the road.
視覺昏花難比舊, Sight of now cannot be compared to the days of old,
一片糢糊樂在何. A blurry stretch and joy of whence comes?

The first stanza is about Emperor Hsuan Tsung thinking of Yang Guifei. 長恨歌 is encrypted in there. The second stanza is about me. 

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Still Another Old Poem Update

The original was written on 17 Sep 2018.  I was approaching Death Valley in the car from a faraway distance and saw a sandstorm racing across the valley floor towards the purple colored mountains that were enshrouded in a purple haze.

橫掃塵飛西北風 Sweeping unbridled and kicking up the dust is the north-west wind. 
沙漠天邊紫山逢 The edge of the desert meets the faraway purple mountains,

萬里歸期初步始 The first step of  my ten-thousand-mile journey home begins,
何日得聽雨濛瀧 When oh when do I hear the misty rains?

Then minor changes were made later in the day,

橫掃西北萬里風 Across ten thousand miles, the unbridled northwestern wind swept,
沙漠塵飛紫山逢 Kicking up the desert dust till the purple mountains met.

何日歸期初步始 When oh when will the first step of journeying home begin?
眠中醉聽雨濛瀧 My Dreams are the inebriating sounds of misty rains.

Almost a year later, came this update...

1 橫掃西北萬里風 Across ten-thousand miles, the unbridled northwestern wind swept,

2 沙河塵飛千日重 Kicking up dust from the sandy rivers, a thousand days of weight upon me.

3 問天歸期未有期 Asking Heaven if there’s a date of return,

4 雨在故鄉醉濛瀧 Rains upon hometown in my drunken mistiness.

5 烟雲夢碎戰鼓乍 Sudden thundering war drums shatter my dream of the wind and clouds,

6 沉月光殘燭泣紅 The descending moon; its light weakening; the candle weeps in red.

7 何畏胡蹄數百匹 What’s there to fear? Just only a few hundred barbarian hooves,

8 惟恐今宵難早逢 But worrying that our meeting tonight won’t be early enough.

 Notes: 

1: Can be interpreted as subduing the northwest easily like the wind blowing across the landscape.

2. This is ambiguous.  重 with a change in tone means "again" or "repeated" - that each and everyday is like any other, mundane scenery of dust storms.

3.  With a change of the first two characters, the rest of line is taken from Li Shang Yin's 君問歸期未有期, 巴山夜雨漲秋池...

6. Chinese candles are red in color.  White ones are reserved for funerals. The dripping wax is like tears, burning its life away. 

7. Hooves can either mean those of the horses or the barbarians.

Flowers In the Mirror - 鏡花緣

 

This came about after watching the series,  鏡花緣傳奇.  

人生盡頭鏡花緣 In the end, life is just like flowers in the mirror,
来去莫過水月情 Comings and goings - no more than the moon in the water.
執迷長短不棄求 Blind obstinate pursuit of things, whether right or wrong,
露滴難悟待日迎 Is like the unenlightened dew welcoming the sun.

Monday, July 08, 2019

 

Impermanence of Life

Someone learning Chinese, wrote this on italki...

"特别是看大自然，真的美景！晚上在走路上，我看日落，这样特别漂亮，因为在雪山脚下，阳光照射在小山谷上闪闪发光。"

And from this, this inspiration gushed forth...

朝早看日出, 高高青松心, 花菱草,遍地黄, 徘徊凡間上,人神豈無?
晚夜待月來. 遠遠雪山足, 溪水流,逍遙銀, 陶醉仙景中,遺憾何有?

See the sun rises early in the morning, in the heart where lofty pines are, California poppies, large swaths of yellow. Pacing on this earth, how mortal feelings not be abounded?

Late is the night waiting for the moon, faraway is the foot of snow-capped mountains; stream waters flow, in unhurried silver. In this fairy scene inebriated, whence regrets cometh?

...

The pine, together with the plum and the bamboo forms the "Three Friends".  It symbolizes lofty character and perseverance to the cold and permanence as the introductory poem of "Seven Swordsmen Thirteen Swords" (七俠十三劍) states,

善似青松惡似花, Kindness is like green pines and evil like flowers,

青松冷淡不如花. Dull and boring unlike flowers.

有朝一日濃霜降, Till one day when heavy snow falls,

只見青松不見花. Only the green pines and not the flowers be seen.


The poem is about impermanence of life.  Enjoy whenever you can.

Another Drunken Imperial Concubine Version

This came about from the first line as I was practising my brush writing. Compare to this one that I had written nine years ago. 

http://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2010/04/drunken-imperial-concubine.html

1 玉階彩霞獨自情 On the jade steps, colored clouds in passion of one, 

2袖飛珮爭婆娑輕 Pendants vying with flying sleeves in light swirls, 

3月醉羞花待君郎 Inebriated is the moon and flowers abashed; waiting for her Lord, 

4蕙宮夜長伴梅精 Alas, night long in the Palace of Dipteryx, he dallied with that Plum Blossom Witch! 

Notes: 

3 From 沉魚落雁敝月羞花 (sinking fish, plummeting swan; eclipsing the moon, shaming the blossoms), to describe the four greatest beauties of China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Beauties Hsi Shih: a silk washer girl by the riverbanks before she was discovered. Wang Chao-chun: sent to the Hsiung Nu as a bride. Actually 雁 is a kind of migrating wild goose but its English imagery is not so elegant as in Chinese. Tiao Chan: She was seen by her foster father when she offered night prayers moon when suddenly a cloud obscured the moon. He took it as an omen and exclaimed that even the radiant moon is ashamed and needed to be hidden from her beauty. Yang Kwei Fei: She was seen by a palace maid when she touched a mimosa and so the story spread about the flowers were ashamed of their beauty before her. 

4 Actually Dipteryx Odorata, a kind of fragrant grass. The “witch” refers to a former rival of Yang Kwei Fei. Her passion is plum blossoms and hence as entitled as the Plum Blossom Concubine. 貴妃醉酒 is a Peking Opera based on the story that after having a spat with her, the Emperor summoned her rival to his chambers. She became tipsy while waiting for his summons. When she found out what was happening, she brazenly went to confront him. The emperor felt so guilty that he hid her rival under his quilt. However, she did not expose him and left; feigning that he needed his rest. From then onwards, she knew she had the sole power over the emperor. 

Monday, July 01, 2019

Naked Burlaks At Divine Farmer Stream - 神農裸體縴夫

  

Adding a piece of music from your CD is difficult unless it is also available from Youtube.  However, this is a different version from my CD and included a video.  The video is about naked burlaks, a bygone profession from China.  I have never heard of them until now.  As such, it also inspired me to write this poem.  Many, many thanks!!!


長江三峽神農溪 At the Divine Farmer’s River of Yangtze’s Three Gorges,
峭壁急流石堆斜 Where cliffs are steep, rapids swift and scattered rocks a slant.
嘿呦縴唱振谷河 Heave Ho! Burlaks in song, rising from the valley waters,
齊眾勤苦叫山野 Assiduous teamwork, calling to the mountain’s wilderness.

逆水行舟汗滴深 Deep in sweat against the flow, boats plodding onwards,
日中月明雲非遮 The moon is bright in the day, nary a cloud to hide behind.
麗質滔天前往向 Natural beauties fill the very heavens, surging forward,
牽引滾地誰來邪 In writhing tows across the land - whence forth strangeness cometh?

客觀仙凡相比妬 Staring guest, mutual envy arose as heaven and earth compared,
欲其壯官錦袍卸 For those strong muscles, rich brocades gladly given up.
又恐莫刻嫌勞棄 And yet afraid, a moment’s toil, unable to bear.
夢魔繞纒愁今夜 Tonight’s endless sorrows wrapped in demonic dreams

玉帶腰珮尚未慾 Jade belts and adornments, yet to lust,
浪推潮湧權威借 Shoving waves, surging tides, their power borrowed.
立悟社稷無量重 And at once, the immeasurable weight of society descended,
安睡虛入五更嗟 Feigning in sound sleep, till morn in sighs.

Note: "moon" slang for "butt"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gajuR63xsPg

Saturday, 29 Jun 2019