Birthday poem · January 2Winter Solstice, the 22nd solar term: the longest night of the year.
Birth character
春 chūn · spring
春 shows plants sprouting under the sun; it means spring.
春眠不覺曉
“This spring morning in bed I'm lying” — Meng Haoran, ‘Spring Dawn’
The poem
“Mooring Below Beigu Mountain” 次北固山下
- 潮平兩岸闊The tide is level, both banks wide;
- 風正一帆懸the wind is fair, a single sail hangs high.
- 海日生殘夜The sea sun is born from the remnants of night;
- 江春入舊年the river's spring enters the old year.
Why this poem
Wang Wan sailing at year's end: the sun rises from the sea before night is over.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Winter Solstice.