Birthday poem · July 17Minor Heat, the 11th solar term: the heat begins.
Birth character
綠 lǜ · green
綠 combines 糸 "silk" with a sound element; it first meant green-dyed silk, then green.
萬條垂下綠絲絛
“A thousand branches droop like fringes made of jade.” — He Zhizhang, ‘Ode to the Willow’
Other dates with this poem: May 11
The poem
“Village in the Fourth Month” 鄕村四月
- 綠遍山原白滿川Green covers the hills and plains, white fills the streams;
- 子規聲裏雨如煙amid the cuckoo's calls, the rain is like mist.
- 鄕村四月閑人少In the village in the fourth month, few are idle:
- 纔了蠶桑又插田silkworms just finished, now it's time to plant rice.
Why this poem
Weng Juan on the fourth month in the country: silkworms done, then rice planting.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Minor Heat.