Birthday poem · December 11Major Snow, the 21st solar term: heavier snow.
Birth character
松 sōng · pine
松 combines 木 "tree" with 公 as a sound element; it means pine.
明月松間照
“Bright moon shines through the pines” — Wang Wei, ‘Autumn Evening in the Mountains’
Other dates with this poem: June 8
The poem
“Bamboo and Rock” 竹石
- 咬定青山不放松It bites hard into the green mountain and won't let go,
- 立根原在破岩中its roots set deep in a crack of broken rock.
- 千磨萬擊還堅勁Ground down a thousand times, struck ten thousand, still firm and strong —
- 任爾東西南北風let the wind blow from east, west, south or north.
Why this poem
Zheng Xie on bamboo rooted in cracked rock, standing firm in winds from every side.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Major Snow.