Birthday poem · January 6Minor Cold, the 23rd solar term: the weather turns colder.
Birth character
香 xiāng · fragrance
香 combines grain with 甘 "sweet"; it first meant the smell of grain, then fragrance.
暗香浮動月黃昏
“A hidden fragrance drifts in the moonlit dusk.” — Lin Bu, ‘Little Plum in the Mountain Garden’
The poem
“Plum Blossoms” 梅花
- 牆角數枝梅qiáng jiǎo shù zhī méiAt the wall corner a few plum sprays
- 凌寒獨自開líng hán dú zì kāiBrave the cold and blossom alone.
- 遙知不是雪yáo zhī bù shì xuěFrom afar I know they are not snow—
- 爲有暗香來wèi yǒu àn xiāng láiFor a subtle fragrance has come.
Why this poem
A few plum sprigs bloom in the cold; their scent tells them from snow. Minor Cold is plum season.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Minor Cold.