Birthday poem · January 9Minor Cold, the 23rd solar term: the weather turns colder.

Birthday poem card for January 9: “The Ospreys Cry” by Book of Songs (anonymous). Birth character 天, sky, heaven.

Birth character

天 tiān · sky, heaven

In its oldest form, 天 is a person with a large head; it came to mean the sky.

疑是銀河落九天
“As if the Silver River fell from azure sky.” — Li Bai, ‘Viewing the Waterfall at Mount Lu’

Other dates with this poem: September 27

The poem

“The Ospreys Cry” 關雎

  1. 關關雎鳩Guan, guan, cry the ospreys
  2. 在河之洲on the islet in the river.
  3. 窈窕淑女A lovely, graceful girl —
  4. 君子好逑a fine match for a gentleman.

Book of Songs (anonymous) 詩經 · Zhou dynasty · four-character verse · excerpt

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

The first poem in the Book of Songs, about a young man longing for a girl.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Minor Cold.

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