Birthday poem · September 12White Dew, the 15th solar term: nights cool and dew forms on the grass.

Birthday poem card for September 12: “Leaving Baidi City at Dawn” by Li Bai. Birth character 朝, morning.

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’

Other dates with this poem: November 11

The poem

“Leaving Baidi City at Dawn” 早發白帝城

  1. 朝辭白帝彩雲間zhāo cí bái dì cǎi yún jiānLeaving at dawn the White Emperor crowned with cloud,
  2. 千里江陵一日還qiān lǐ jiāng líng yī rì huánI've sailed a thousand li through canyons in a day.
  3. 兩岸猿聲啼不住liǎng àn yuán shēng tí bù zhùWith monkeys' sad adieus the riverbanks are loud;
  4. 輕舟已過萬重山qīng zhōu yǐ guò wàn chóng shānMy skiff has left ten thousand mountains far away.

Li Bai 李白 · Tang dynasty · 701–762 · seven-character verse

English translation by Poetune.

Read “Leaving Baidi City at Dawn” in full, with notes →

Why this poem

Li Bai, pardoned, sails home: "my light boat has passed ten thousand hills".

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: White Dew.

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