Birthday poem · September 19Moon-viewing season, in the White Dew period.
Birth character
新 xīn · new
新 first meant cutting wood with an axe; it was borrowed to mean new.
客舍青青柳色新
“The willows by the tavern look so fresh and green.” — Wang Wei, ‘Farewell to Yuan Er on His Mission to Anxi’
The poem
“Osmanthus Seeds on the Mid-Autumn Night” 天竺寺八月十五日夜桂子
- 玉顆珊珊下月輪Jade seeds tinkle down from the wheel of the moon;
- 殿前拾得露華新before the hall I pick them up, fresh with dew.
- 至今不會天中事To this day I don't understand what happens in heaven —
- 應是嫦娥擲與人it must be Chang'e tossing them down to us.
Why this poem
Pi Rixiu picks up osmanthus seeds at Tianzhu Temple on mid-autumn night.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: White Dew. Near moon-viewing season.