In The End, For What?

During my boring jog, the line came into my head as I looked at a beautiful sunny sky at one end and dark gloomy rain clouds at the other end, 風來/伯雲捲雨母過.However, like the unpredictable weather, the direction of the poem’s theme changed and became,

1來世無帶去時空 Nothing is carried into this world and upon leaving -- empty handed,
2榮華一切總是夢 All the wealth and glory in the end is but a dream.
3嫡後嗣續三代敗 To your descendants but by the third generation, all squandered away,
4輪迴若有亦難逢 Reincarnation, if any, will be difficult to reunite once more.

3. 嫡後嗣續, 祭祀烝嘗 – From the Thousand Character Classic
4. 輪迴 – Wheel of Transmigration where soul must go through before being reborn.

The Greener Sides

 

This was germinated on 02 Mar 2020 during my jog from the line, 冷月寒夜一杯酒.No matter what angle I was taking, I could not easily complete the poem.

It was put in the backburner of my mind. By the next day’s jog, I was at it again when I remembered that on 28 Feb, after having dinner in Ventura downtown and was having a gelato cone in hand that I saw on the street, three young boys running down the street towards my direction in carefree laughter. 

One was a long-haired blond. His hair was swaying in vibrancy as if spun from the freshest gold threads. I felt agony when compared to their energy levels. All I wanted was to go back to the hotel and call it a night. Where did my vitality went?

From this, I imagined that I was dining alfresco on top of a building looking down the street and saw the carefreeness of callous youth…

1枱靜山珍蟠桃酒 Quiet is the table flushed with plates of delicacies and expensive wines,

2街上暄擾年華秀 But the endearing sounds of boisterous youth are on the streets.

3秋憶遠久十六春 The autumnal years yearn for its sixteenth spring of yore,

4曾似流光欲登樓 Was it not once upon a time? The desire to fly to the top of the world?

5宴後飽飫步温閑 Done is the banquet and a leisure stroll in satiated warmth,

6冷月寒風追伴愁 The moon is cold; the winds are chilly; chasing the downhearted as companionship.

7至少安寢夢相遇 At least a safe place of slumber where dreams can be met,

8好比無瓦遮老頭 ‘tis better than no roof over this old head.

1.From the phrase 山珍海味 to mean “rare exotic meats of the mountains and tastes of the ocean”. 蟠桃酒, not wine made from the immortal peaches but the elixir served at the banquet of the Western Queen Mother.  It was at one such banquet that the Monkey King wrecked the party when he ate all the peaches and drank all the elixir.

2.秀 means elegant, winsome, graceful, superior etc.

3.憶 can also mean “to remember”

4. 登樓 means “to climb up the building”. Finally, this line reveals that the successful is dining alone on the top floor. Peering down on the street where sounds of youth are at, he remembered how in his youth had been yearning to be up there having fine food. Now he regrets the price of youth he had paid for.

5. 飽飫 from the Thousand Character Classic 飽飫烹宰, 飢厭糟糠

8. 瓦: Roof tiles

Thursday, March 05, 2020

Birdie On A Wire

When I was jogging, I saw a bird perching on the street wires…

  

巷尾電欖鳥 Backstreet birdie on an electric wire,

瞻顧世間寥 Peering charily at the quiet world.

過風忽搖驚 The passing wind; spooked by a sudden sway,

展翅一聲叫 One caw and off it went.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Envied No Longer - 再何慕

Another inspiration from my jogging.  I had been passing by this road up the slope and turning into a dead end.  There is a small  walk path at the end and goes into the park.  Today, it was another nice sunny Southern California day and the idea of not knowing where it will lead to became the initial theme for this piece.

忽見幽處小山路 Suddenly by the quiet corner a small hill path espied,

待君好奇解愁醋 Waiting for its Lord to seek free of his depressed envy.

桃紅水秀花蜂蝶 Peaches red, flowers scented, bees a buzzed and butterflies by the graceful waters,

崑崙瑤池再何慕 Jasper Pools of Kunlun, no longer envied.

The abode of the Queen of the Western Paradise is thought to be on Mt. Kunlun. There exists a body of water named the Jasper Pool where fairies congregate.

Saturday, February 16, 2020

Forgotten

This poem was written sometime in 2019. Most probably it was inspired by the character 驟 from Li Ching Chao’s poem, 夜雨疏風驟，濃睡不消殘酒 since I don’t use it often. The skeletal poem was forgotten and its inception was buried in my brush writing piles until today when I happened to chance it. I am happy that it was finally finished today, unlike the main character in the poem, forgotten and neglected.

1風驟蝶飛倦 The butterfly is tired from flying in the sudden wind,

2雨疏聲滴亂 A light rain pitter-pattering me into inquietude.

3針刺對燭泣 The candle is weeping before the needlework,

4銀光難再緣 And the silvery light, no longer a matchmaker.

5何來君心意 Whence forth are my Lord’s feelings for me?

6舊情隔久遠 From the love that is so distant and so long ago.

7歌酒長樂伴 The songs and the wine -- the constant companions of joy,

8往日洞庭船 Were but from yesteryears – on a boat in the Tung Ting Lake.

3. This line can also be translated as, “Needles pierced into my heart, I wept by the candlelight”.

4. The silvery light of the moon. 難再緣 – Destiny is difficult [to come back again]

2019

Update

1風驟蝶飛倦 Tired butterfly in the sudden wind,

2雨後聲滴亂 The after rain pitter-pattering me into inquietude.

3針刺對燭泣 Into weeping candle as I needle worked,

4殘月鵲橋斷    The morning moon wanes as the magpie bridge breaks

5何來君心意 Whence forth are my Lord’s feelings for me?

6夢遇舊情怨 Fretting over a dream met so long ago.

7歌酒常樂伴 The wine songs -- the constant companions of joy,

8曾經洞庭船 Were once upon a boat on Lake Tung Ting.

1,2. Inspired from 李清照’s   昨夜雨疏風驟   

3. This line can also be translated as, “Needles pierced into my heart, I wept by the candlelight”. Most probably the theme of the needlework is a pair of Mandarin ducks, symbolizing eternal love as she remembered the good old days.

4. The “crippled moon”,  the almost faded moon still seen in the morning sky disappearing.  The Bridge is an allusion to the Chinese Tale of “the Heavenly Spinning Maid and the Cowherd”.  They are allowed to meet once a year on the 7^th night of the 7^th Month of the lunar calendar when the stars Altair and Vega are at their closest. The bridge is formed from magpies.

7. I prefer the way how 常 is written with a brush.

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Valentine 2020

Today is another day catered towards commercialism to pry loose your wallet for unnecessary expenditure.  As for me, once more to kill time and keep my mind occupied on my arduous hour jog. Paltry words for a paltry poem.  No matter what, a great resource for me to practise the same old characters in a different way for my brush writing practice.

1.推開樓窗憶歸燕 Pushing the high above windows, I yearned for the returning swallows,

2.觸回枝葉夏日蟬 But was reminded of that summer’s cicadas upon the leaves and branches.

3.秋來音絕夢環送 Autumn had gone and no news came but through dreams sent,

4.雪降霜飛酒後眠 Falling snow, flying flurries, a few cups more before to the Morphean world.

1.Two swallows flying together means lover’s bliss.

2.The incessant noise of summer cicadas is a Japanese euphemism.

3. 音絕 can also refer to the cicada sounds had stopped. The sounds were sent to the other person as a reminder of their summer love.

4. 霜 is a homophone for 雙 (a pair) to refer back to the first line of 雙飛燕.

Friday, February 14, 2020

A Good Omen - 鳳兆吉瑞,太平廣世

Again, trying to avoid boredom during my jog. On my way back, after my theme was completed, I saw in the sky, a group of clouds appeared to be like a phoenix in flight. So, I went back to get my phone to take a photo. By the time the photo was taken, the image wasn’t as sharp as before. Still, a good omen in Chinese culture especially for me as the poem was written in my head before this cloud formation.

  

1南天莫見白雲飛 I don’t see white clouds flying at Heaven’s gate.
2逍遙仙鶴何踪去 And where are the fairy cranes of leisure?
3瑤池蟠桃看無席 There’s no peach party at the Jasper Pool,
4歌酒蓬萊未必聚 And at the merriment of the Blessed Isles – I don’t think so.
5極樂西土難有緣 Neither are they destined for Western Paradise
6東海龍宮素不居 Nor frequenting the Palace of the Dragon King’s Eastern Ocean.
7豁然抬頭壁一望 Lifting my head, suddenly, I espied on the wall,
8畫中自在清閑醉 Besotting in a painting of idyllic drunkenness.

1.Short for 南天門 The Southern Celestial Gates, the only entrance to Heaven where the Jade Emperor presides. Heaven, like its Earth’s counter part is filled with bureaucracy and rules and is not a place where one can do as he wishes.

2.It is a coincidence that 白雲飛 and 仙鶴 are mentioned together. 白雲飛 is the heroine of 仙鶴神針, The Romance of the Celestial Crane and Divine Needles, a martial arts story.

3. The Jasper Pool is located in the Kunlun Mountains where 西王母, the Queen Mother of the West holds court. Every 12,000 years she would throw a party for immortals to partake the peaches of immortality. It was on one such occasion that Monkey King ruined everything when he gobbled all the peaches and polished off all the elixir.

4. The Blessed Isles are where Earth Immortals reside. They can be more rambunctious than those residing in Heaven as they do not live in heaven and does not come under its direct jurisdiction. The most famous bunch are the fun loving Eight Immortals.

5.The Western Paradise is where Buddha holds sermons.

6.The eastern ocean is where the chief Dragon King resides in an underwater palace. Of course, being creatures of the sky, they would find the place confining.

7.Now we know that both the clouds and cranes are hiding in a painting for respite.

8. We don’t know who is drunk, the celestial creatures or the poet.

Thursday, February 13, 2020