Birthday poem · August 7Start of Autumn, the 13th solar term: autumn begins in the traditional calendar.
Birth character
朝 zhāo · morning
朝 shows the sun rising among plants while the moon is still up; it means morning.
朝辭白帝彩雲間
“Leaving at dawn the White Emperor crowned with cloud” — Li Bai, ‘Leaving Baidi City at Dawn’
The poem
“Immortals at the Magpie Bridge” 鵲橋仙
- 纖雲弄巧Thin clouds make clever shapes,
- 飛星傳恨shooting stars carry sorrow,
- 銀漢迢迢暗度across the far, far Silver River they cross in secret.
- 金風玉露一相逢One meeting in the golden wind and jade dew
- 便勝却人間無數outshines countless meetings in the human world.
- 兩情若是久長時If two hearts are true for a long, long time,
- 又豈在朝朝暮暮why must they be together morning and night?
Why this poem
Qin Guan on the Cowherd and Weaver meeting on Qixi.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Start of Autumn.