Birthday poem · February 18Start of Spring, the 1st solar term: spring begins in the traditional calendar.
Birth character
琴 qín · zither
琴 is a picture of a stringed instrument, the qin zither.
彈琴復長嘯
“I play my lute and croon carefree.” — Wang Wei, ‘Bamboo Grove Retreat’
The poem
“Drinking with a Hermit in the Mountains” 山中與幽人對酌
- 兩人對酌山花開Two of us drinking face to face as the mountain flowers open:
- 一杯一杯復一杯one cup, one cup, and one cup more.
- 我醉欲眠卿且去I'm drunk and want to sleep — you'd better go;
- 明朝有意抱琴來tomorrow, if you like, come back with your zither.
Why this poem
Li Bai drinks with a hermit: "one cup, another cup, and another".
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Start of Spring.