Last Poem of 2022

This morning, I was jogging on the wet road around the neighborhood. The rains had stopped and the air was fresh but cold. I felt sad and lonely as they was no one on the street and unlike yesteryears, I wasn’t invited to any New Year’s Eve party. Neither did I want to throw one at my place.

1 路濕何有街上人 The road is wet and how could there be pedestrians?
2 清風獨步伴孤魂 Only the freshness of the wind strolls along with the lonely soul.
3 昨日榮華門客甚 With yesterday’s splendor and glory hangers-on aplenty,
4 權別無親今時辰 But now to power bade goodbye, nary a one an intimate at this hour.

2 清風 is short for 兩袖清風 – an upright and incorruptible official.

3 門客 are hangers-on for the rich and powerful where they were employed to give advice etc. for some personal gain. Even Confucius tried his hand but was unsuccessful most probably he lived in the wrong age when war and strife is rampant.

Saturday, December 31, 2022

The One and Only

Forcing myself to create a new poem before the year ends…

1 夕霞幾度胭脂紅 How many shades of red rouge are there in a sunset cloud?
2 羅帳殷勤侍春風 Silk curtains trying their best to serve the spring wind.
3 無情五更應鼓醒 Heartless is waking up in answering the call of the Fifth Hour drum,
4 上陽莫再長生逢 No longer would the Palace of the Supreme Sun meet the Hall of Eternal Life.

1 This line can also be interpreted as a statement – “the many shades of red rouge…” 霞 means “rose tinted clouds”.

2 At this point, the context of the poem is unclear until the last line.

3 A drum tower was used to announce the time in the night. A Chinese hour consists of two hours. The fifth hour is from 3 – 5am.

4 When An Lu Shan rebelled, Emperor Hsuan Tsung fled to Szechuan and Yang Guifei was killed before the army would proceed any further. With her gone, he soon abdicated and retired to the Palace of the Supreme Sun to live out the remaining days of his life. During the happier days before the rebellion, on one Seventh Night Festival, the emperor and Yang Gui Fei made a vow to remain faithful to each other. Now that the context is clear, the first line refers to the many shades of rogue represents the many past loves of the emperor. Line two alludes to the emperor peeping at the future Yang Guifei taking a bath at the Pool of Flower Purity to see if his daughter-in-law was beautiful enough for him to go through all that trouble to procure her for himself. The Tang Dynasty would have lasted longer if she had been less beautiful.

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

The Unchanging Mortal World

Another inspiration during my jog…

1 朝晨冷霧雲蓋天 Cold is the fog of early mornings and clouds covered sky,
2 獨入深山無鳥言 Alone deep into the hills where no bird twitters .
3 高峰縹緲凡塵察 High peaks faintly discernible, observing the mortal world,
4 糊塗瀰漫豈易變 That these pervading befuddlement could be easily changed?

2 Implying the hills are treeless.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Be Careful Of What You Wish For!

Forcing myself to have at least 121 poems for 2022.  The draft of the first stanza was done when I finished my jog.  The second one was done while I was practising with my brush.

1 無聊紈扇螢火撲 My silk fan catches fireflies in boredom,
2 蘭臺官高郎情薄 Lessened affections an imperial librarian he now is.
3 天有桂殿我燭淚 Heaven has its Osmanthus Hall but a candle of tears for me,
4 琵琶一曲是寂寞 This pipa tune I play is my loneliness.

5 勸君懇讀妾殷勤 Urged him in diligent study, tending to his every need ever so solicitously
6 貧寒二人比仙樂 We may be poor but in togetherness, happier than any immortal.
7 銀河雙星鵲橋會 Upon the magpie bridge, Twin Stars of the Silver River twain shall meet,
8 錦秀年華再不覺 But fond memories from those days of yore no longer felt.

1 Women of the upper classes usually lived in total boredom as their movements were curtailed extensively. Perhaps, once in their lifetime during the Lantern Festival would they be allowed to roam outside of their homes. Catching butterflies or fireflies with their silk fans was one of their few pastimes in life.

2 The Orchid Terrace houses the imperial collection of books during the Han and Tang Dynasties.

3 Another moniker for the moon. It can also mean “the imperial harem”. They all imply loneliness – the loneliness of the moon goddess Chang Er, the neglected women in the harem. Hence “heaven” can mean the imperial court. 殿is the imperial place of administration while 宮 is the imperial residence. The dripping wax is like a weeping candle.

5 君 honorific term for the husband and 妾is self-deprecating term used by the wife. It does not mean “concubine”!

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

Friday, December 23, 2022

Spring Parting

 

Another brush writing practice inspiration.

1 寒盡今宵明日春 When tonight’s cold snaps, it will be spring of tomorrow,
2 初陽綠柳降露潾 Early morning dewdrops drip a pure from green willow leaves.
3 萬笑桃花醉東君 Myriad peach blossoms smile and intoxicate the Lord of the East,
4 千杯難辭再三巡 More bouts for the thousandth cup of fare-thee-well not yet bade.

2 “leaves” is not in the original wording.

3 This line does not indicate if there are many people smiling at the peach blossoms or that the peach blossoms are “smiling”. The Lord of the East could be the Chinese Apollo or Zephyr.

4 Could also mean that it is difficult to refuse the free flow of wine.  “Three” just means that there are many more rounds to go.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Trysts In The Shadows

While practising my calligraphy and updating a poem, this came into my mind…

1 又見東昇明月光 Once again I see the light of the full moon rising in the east,
2 重聚西沉黑林廣 So too are the wide stretches of the darkened western forest.
3 莫道銀河雙星淚 Speak not of the Silver River nor tears from the stars of twain,
4 暗聞花間細語藏 But listen in secret to hushed whispers hidden amongst the flowers.

2 沉 doesn’t mean sink but “gloomy”, "foreboding"...

3 Due to the brightness of the moon, Altair and Vega are not seen shedding their tears. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qixi_Festival

4 The other meaning of 聞, “to smell” also makes sense.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Just The Way Things Are

During my brush writing practice using the poem, Bamboo and Stone by the Ch'ing Dynasty scholar, Cheng Hsieh 鄭燮, courtesy name, Pan Chiao (板橋), the characters, when I came to the characters, 青山, I was inspired to write something of my own…

1 青山難免白雲見 Inevitably, white clouds will be seen over the green mountains.
2 碧海何無紫飛燕 Why then are there no dotting purple of swiftlets over the azure sea?
3 人間自會善惡報 Rewards and retributions will eventually catch up in the mortal world,
4 別聚更有夢中纒 Even in partings and reunions, there be entanglements in dreams!

2 紫燕 is the purple martin. Chinese do not distinguish martins, swallows and swifts. Swallows symbolize fidelity as they mate for life. Here, the “swallow” refers to the white nest swiftlet whose nests are made entirely from their saliva which the Chinese use to make bird nest soup. The species live in the cliffs of the Andaman Islands and some Indonesian islands. The purple refers to color of the birds from afar.

Sunday, December 18, 2022

竹石 Bamboo and Stone

1咬定青山不放鬆, Sinking tenaciously into the green mountains,
2 立根原在破巖中. In crevices of the cliffs from whence its roots had sprung.
3 千磨萬擊還堅勁, A thousand abrading, a myriad attacks, still in vigor,
4 任爾東西南北風 Matters not what winds sent forth from the north, south, east or west.

1 Literally, “biting”

4 爾 means “you”, referring to Mother Nature.