skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A few days ago, while jogging in the evening, the evening sky was filled with fog like clouds in pale pink while the bottom part of the sky was in deep blue. It was a pretty sight. I tried to come up with a line to describe it elegantly but nothing came out of my mind until tonight.
1 斜陽還照西海巖 The slanting sun still shines upon the western ocean cliffs,
2淺紅上浮雲底藍 Floating clouds in pink tops and blue bottoms.
3銀點黑夜九天河 Dotted in silver is the night sky from the Nine Heavens river,
4風動星雨者知三 And when the wind blows, stars overfloweth - only three in the know.
1 This was written in California and so the western sea is the Pacific Ocean.
2 The blue comes from the reflected ocean.
3 The only river in the sky is the Milky Way. There are nine levels of heaven in Chinese mythology.
4 The cause of meteor showers are only known by the wind, the stars and the poet.
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
During my evening jog…
1 九月初夜月當空 Early nights of the month of nine, when the moon is up in the sky,
2 蓮池烟霧再莫紅 The fog upon the lotus pond – no longer red.
3 輕紗紈扇金鏤箱 Light gauze and the silk fan are now kept in the gold engraved boxes,
4 後庭何趣伴古松 Of what fun is there in the back courtyard accompanying old pine trees?
1 Implies that summer is over and autumn is here.
2 Lotus or water lilies represent summer. Literally, the fog is hiding the lotus blooms from view or that summer is over and no more blooming occurs.
3 Light silk clothing are worn in summer and silk fans are used by ladies in the old times to catch butterflies as some kind of sporting fun. Figuratively to mean that when love is no longer needed, they are discarded or kept away.
4 Now that the colors of summer is gone (youth), it’s no fun looking at old age!
Monday, September 18, 2023
昨夜明月夜長風, from the previous poem was too good to be relegated into the dusty corridors of the mind. After some thinking, it was morphed into something different when 風 became 烽. So, my first foray into a poem about war…
1 遠見城池夜長烽 From afar, beacon fires alight the city and moat throughout the night,
2 草原飛箭雨淋紅 Arrows came flying from the grass steppes raining in blood.
3 東西二京焰重演 Twin capitals of the east and west came burning as if in reenactment,
4 震破難眠國憂夢 Shaken awake by worrying dreams of the nation – ‘tis hardly the time for sweet slumbering.
2 From the north, the traditional place where invasions took place. Hence the Chinese were never prepared when “invasions” came from the east from the ocean.
3 The first four characters were taken the Thousand Character Classic. During the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was known as the eastern capital 洛陽東都 or the Divine Capital, 神都 known during Empress Wu’s times. Chang An was the western capital. From this line, we can assume the poem is about the An Lu Shan rebellion.
4 Translating literally won’t be as heartfelt.
Friday, September 15, 2023
This poem came about when I answered this Quora question about can a foreigner with knowledgeable modern mandarin can understand literary Chinese. The last line of the poem came into my mind. The poem was completed while I was jogging in the day.
1 後庭月明夜寒風 The night wind is cold as moon bright hangs over the inner courtyard,
2 前殿臘燈十里紅 But candlelight from the front outer palace is bright for ten miles.
3 一滴珠淚池影醉 One teardrop of a drunken face reflected in the pond,
4 長門曾經金屋夢 When once upon a dream, the Gate of Eternity was a house of gold.
1 Implies loneliness, sadness and hope by the imagery of the singular moon that is bright and yet the winds are cold.
2 There can be two interpretations for this line, the new favorite was being lavishly entertained in the front palace where important occasions or ceremonies were held. So many red candles were used that the place could be seen for ten miles. Red candles are used because the color is considered auspicious. White candles are only used for funerals. The second interpretation is that the protagonist was thinking of her old wedding ceremony and that red silk was used for ten miles, an exaggeration, of the procession route to welcome her to the palace. The only person we know of having this luxury for her marriage was the first empress of Han Wu Ti.
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Jiao
Friday, September 15, 2023
Forcing a mental exercise on my brain to elevate boredom during my jog…
慷慷激昂醉桃花 So fervent are the passions that peach blossoms become inebriated,
微微暗笑引年華 With half hidden smiles to encourage the young men to continue.
葉下鴛鴦雨露恩 Under the leaves are mandarin ducks in love,
寂寞仙子淚滴灑 Lonesome fairies in shedding tears.
I was not satisfied and so this version came during a trip to Costco…
1 桃花含笑醉春風 Smiling peach blossoms intoxicate the spring wind,
2 年華無處不染紅 Nary a place where youth is, not tinged with red.
3 寂寞高樓低望人 Lonely high tower looking at people down below,
4 曾似昨夜一短夢 As if they were like short dreams from last night.
1 Flowers anthropomorphized by pretty young girls and the guys, the spring wind. This line implies flirtation from both sides of the aisle.
2 Red, the color of youth in bloom.
3 Envious old men in their lonely positions of power leering at the young crowd on the street, wishing that they can be part of vibrancy of youth again.
4 Resigning to the fact that no matter, dreams are just dreams.
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
During a jog…
1 越更高向群星散 The higher the ascendency is, more stars will disperse,
2 獨霸九霄照人間 Alone in hegemony over the Nine Heavens, shining over humankind.
3 浮世笑容醉樂夢 Smiling faces exist only in drunken dreams of the floating world,
4 何須醒後對塵煩Why then be bothered to wake up and vexed by the mundane world?
1 越 is used as a pun for 月. The moon glows brighter as time passes since total darkness engulfs the world. All weaker celestial lights are dimmed out.
2 There are nine heavens in Chinese mythology.
3 “floating world” means the transient nature of the pleasure world. Everyone is smiling with you because of your high position.
4 “dust” or “red dust”, 紅塵 is a Buddhist term for the mortal world.
Friday, July 28, 2023
This was created as I was in the stage when my dreams were fading away and on the threshold of awakening. Realized that 鳥 rhymes with 飃. Completed during my jog…
同林樹雙鳥 In the forest, two birds dwell in one tree,
風動枝葉搖 The winds came and when the boughs and leaves began to sway.
南北各自分 One flew away to the north, the other to the south.
情空恩䀆寥 Lonesome it is when love is gone.
A common saying, “Husband and wife are actually two birds in the same forest. When adversity comes along, each would fly away on its own” - 夫妻本是同林鳥, 大難臨頭各自飛.
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
