Another Two View Points

This poem was started in the night with the first two lines. However, I wasn’t able to complete it and in the middle of the night, I decided to turn them as the last two lines and see if I can continue with a different rhyme. It was completed in the next day during my morning jog.

1 窗外音絕夜籣徑 Outside the window is a path where sounds of the night had ceased,
2 回眸枕上鴛鴦影 A shadow of embroidered pillow Mandarin Ducks from one back glance.
3 萬燦難擋孤燈前 Myriad dots of brilliance withstand not the lonely light at the front,
4 船破水中銀河星 A boat crushing the stars of the Silver River.

1 Sets up the scene for the next line - looking outside to see if there are signs of someone coming. However, it is night and all is quiet.

2 回眸 – “returning eyes” – to turn the head back for a look. Mandarin ducks symbolizes marital bliss and hence a favorite embroidered theme on pillowcases. This line explains the reason the wife is looking out of the window – to see if there are signs of the husband returning. However, she is worried about their love because of the word “shadow” on the pillowcases when she glances back into the bedroom.

3 This is the pivot point where the scenery changes to a different perspective. We do not know what the myriad dots and a lonely light in the front mean.

4 By inference, the myriad dots are the stars and the single light is on a ship’s prow. The ship is still moving in the night because reflections on the water is being crushed. It can be safe to assume that the stars mean temptations encountered on a journey but his love for his lonely wife back home is immovable. His resolve indicated by the moving boat crushes all the temptations encountered. The Milky Way is known as the Silver River in Chinese.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

The Heart's Elsewhere

While jogging in the evening…

1 夜靜風冷星未墜 Quiet is the night when winds are cold and stars yet to set,
2 燈滅影盡船舟去 Lights extinguished, shadows are gone and ships had departed.
3 嫦娥身在廣寒殿 O Goddess of the Moon, bodily in the Palace of Great Frigidity,
4 魄却瑤池蟠宴醉 Drunken is her soul still at the Peach Banquet of the Jasper Pool.

1 No sleep yet and dawn still hasn’t arrived.

2 Hope is gone like the boats.

3 殿 is the administrative part of the palace while 宮 is the residential area. 身is used as a verb. Originally, I had ”嫦娥身在知處難, O Goddess of the Moon, where you are I know not” because of the setting was on a boat but was changed later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e

4 Originally, I had “疑定宴於瑤池去”, “Most probably to the Jasper Pool part she went” as the answer to the previous question. I could not form a good couplet and so had to change the last three lines. Ancient Chinese believes that there are nine souls in a person, 3 superior souls known as 魂 and 6 baser ones as 魄. When a person dies, the baser souls are the last to leave because they could not bear to leave. The longer they remain, the greater chance to become malevolent by causing the body to be animated and cause havoc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaches_of_Immortality

Monday, August 7, 2023

To Be Free

This came about while in the car going to have lunch in OC.

1 白鸕戲水晴天潛 Upon the waters, a white cormorant playfully dives into a sunny sky,
2 波濺池影飛銀閃 Glittering drops of silver splattering at ripples and pond reflections.
3 願為逍遙作閑鳥 For carefreeness, an idle bird that I should be,
4 何慮恩怨凡塵染 Why worry about the mortal realm tainted by love and grudges?

1 The sunny sky is the watery reflection on the pond. For one who is carefree, it matters not whether the sky is upwards or on the water. Originally, I used 白鷺, white heron but found out that these birds do not dive for their prey and I did not like to take poetic licence since a cormorant has the same pronunciation. Pure white cormorants do exist in nature as albinos.

2 What is not explicitly stated is that reflections are shattered upon impact but another beauty arises in form of splattering silver drops. Both are temporary situations and emphasizes the non-important nature of the matter to a carefree person.

3 This is the pivot line that forms the basis to the implicit meaning of the previous lines.

4 The reason that in order to be carefree, one has to be freed from all emotional entanglements of life.

Saturday, August 5, 2023

Two View Points

Inspired by this photo while taking a night stroll in Wilson Park…  However, I wasn’t able to complete it until I went for my jog the next day as there was plenty of time to ponder during my jog…  There were many revisions afterwards...

1 月照白雲昨夜風 Moonlight upon white clouds and winds from last night,
2 搖動黑林無伊夢 Swaying the darkened forest with no dreams of thee.
3 七夕銀河鵲橋高 The Milking Way during the Seventh Night and the Magpie Bridge are high,
4 急渡九霄萬山重 Hurrying over the Nine Heavens and through ranges of myriad mountains!

2 伊人literally means “this person” usually the opposite sex.

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

4 Exaggerating his hurriedness to meet his beloved.

Monday, July 31, 2023

This one was composed three days later as a reply to the previous poem.  However, with many iterations of refinement, it morphed into another view point instead...  This came about while I was in midst of waking up, the first line came to me but could not continue until I completed the previous one. The male version was straight forward while this has more conflicted emotions.

1 銀河星點昨夜風 The Milky Way dotted with myriad stars and winds of last night,
2 莫求難留曾經夢 Seek not in dreams of once upon a time.
3 酒停一瞬念舊客 Pausing a cup to reminisce a guest of old,
4 再杯花容添滴紅 A few more drops, a few more blushes to grace a beauty’s face.

1 This scene represents the good old happier days. The Milky Way is always associated with the ill-fated romance of the Seventh Night. At the same time, a glimmer of hope for reuniting in the future.

2 Self-consolation that dalliance is not worth the pursuit.

3 Even advice from the previous line, her conflicted emotions would not let go of her past encounter. 客 actually means someone who is at a place temporarily. Here it means the heartless wanderlust of a lover, i.e., a lover at every port of call.

4 Still again, her emotions are contradictory as she keeps up with her appearances just in case he shows up unexpectedly. 花容 means a pretty face.

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Summer Heat

Have to keep my mind busy while I jogged and the evening summer heat is still unbearable…

1 風送荷香碎綠影 Lotus fragrance wafted by the wind, shattering green reflections,
2 浮紅池上接相迎 And yet  floating reds upon the pond greeting in welcome.
3 心動神疲血來潮 No peace for an agitated heart as waves of blood surging through,
4 夏熱無端逼人靜 For what reason wouldst summer heat be oppressing one into calmness?

1 Lotuses are aquatic pond plants. 

2 “floating reds” are the red blooms of the Nelumbo nucifera – the sacred lotus which is a symbol of enlightenment which can be achieved through calmness and meditation. 清香 here means the kind of fragrance that is not dense and heavy-like cosmetic perfumes.

3 心動神疲 comes from a line in the Thousand Character Classic -性情靜逸, 心動神疲.

4 Inspired by the Chinese idiom, 心靜自然涼. Although on the surface, the poem talks of summer heat, the underlying tone is to distract and tempt one away from the path of enlightenment. Summer heat is the true path while Mara is the disguised fragrance to distract and lure one astray through sensuality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_(demon)

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Letting Go

Another one while jogging and the half-moon was almost invisible in the dying sunlight.

1 西山夕陽難捨央 Sunset upon the western hills – unwilling to relinquish its zenith,
2 東海月升仍未亮 Moonrise over the eastern ocean – not yet in brilliance.
3 北斗漸殘夜臨黑 Fading into the north as blackness of night approacheth,
4 南柯寰宙夢一塲 The universe of the Southern Bough is but a place all dreamt up.

1 未央 is a Han dynasty concept of “zenith not yet reached” to mean forever in ascendency since once the summit had been reached, decay and descent will start

2 Even daylight is weak, it is still strong enough to diminish the brilliance of the young rising moon.

3 And as the moon grew in brilliance, it will outshine all other celestial bodies of light. One has to have patience in order to grow and become strong.

4 All grandeur is but a fleeting dream.

https://jeffinous.blogspot.com/2011/02/dream-of-southern-bough-chinese-antz.html

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Togetherness

While jogging…

1 海燕雙飛夕陽紅 A pair of swiftlets flying in the red sunset,
2 晚霞漸暗巢歸夢 Dreaming for their return to roost as rosy clouds darken.
3 莫顧世外月黑夜 Nary a care of the outside world if the moon exists,
4 相偎共寢綺眠同 In togetherness snuggling away in shared dreams.

1 These birds are symbols of fidelity and live near coastal caves. Their nests are made from their saliva and are highly prized in Chinese cuisine. The evening represents their sunset years.

2 Time is short and they dream of returning home together.

3 Caring not the world beyond their nest when they have each other.

4 “Dream” is not in the original text but sounds better as “beautiful Slumber” can also be interpreted to be an eternal one.

Tuesday, July 25, 2023