Birthday poem · March 11Awakening of Insects, the 3rd solar term: the first thunder; insects stir.
Birth character
江 jiāng · river
江 combines 水 "water" with 工 as a sound element; it once meant the Yangtze.
唯見長江天際流
“Where I see but the endless River rolling by.” — Li Bai, ‘Farewell to Meng Haoran at Yellow Crane Tower’
The poem
“Spring River at Dusk” 惠崇春江晚景
- 竹外桃花三兩枝Beyond the bamboo, two or three sprays of peach blossom;
- 春江水暖鴨先知the ducks are first to know the spring river has warmed.
- 蔞蒿滿地蘆芽短Wormwood covers the ground, reed shoots are short —
- 正是河豚欲上時just the season when the puffer fish swim upstream.
Why this poem
Su Shi on a painting: in early spring the ducks are first to feel the water warm.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Awakening of Insects.