Birthday poem · May 9Start of Summer, the 7th solar term: summer begins.
Birth character
燕 yàn · swallow
燕 is a picture of a swallow with its wings spread.
誰家新燕啄春泥
“Whose new swallows are pecking at the spring mud?” — Bai Juyi, ‘Spring Walk by Qiantang Lake’
The poem
“Po Zhen Zi: Spring Scene” 破陣子
- 燕子來時新社The swallows return at the spring festival;
- 梨花落後清明the pear blossoms fall, and then comes Qingming.
- 池上碧苔三四點On the pond, three or four dots of green moss;
- 葉底黃鸝一兩聲under the leaves, one or two notes of the oriole;
- 日長飛絮輕the days grow long, and the willow down drifts light.
Why this poem
Yan Shu on the season around Qingming: swallows, pear blossom, orioles, catkins.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Start of Summer.