Birthday poem · November 5Frost’s Descent, the 18th solar term: the first frosts.
Birth character
秋 qiū · autumn
秋 first referred to ripe grain; it means autumn, the harvest season.
我言秋日勝春朝
“But I say spring cannot compete with autumn clear.” — Liu Yuxi, ‘Autumn Song’
Other dates with this poem: September 5
The poem
“Chrysanthemums” 菊花
- 秋叢繞舍似陶家Autumn clumps surround the house, like Tao Yuanming's home;
- 遍繞籬邊日漸斜I circle the fence again and again as the sun sinks.
- 不是花中偏愛菊It's not that among flowers I favour the chrysanthemum —
- 此花開盡更無花it's that when this one is done, no flowers are left.
Why this poem
Yuan Zhen on why he loves chrysanthemums: after them, no flowers bloom. An autumn poem.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Frost’s Descent.