Birthday poem · April 18Clear and Bright, the 5th solar term: the weather warms and plants turn green.
Birth character
明 míng · bright
明 puts 日 "sun" beside 月 "moon"; it means bright.
明月松間照
“Bright moon shines through the pines” — Wang Wei, ‘Autumn Evening in the Mountains’
The poem
“Happy Rain on a Spring Night” 春夜喜雨
- 好雨知時節hǎo yǔ zhī shí jiéGood rain knows its time right;
- 當春乃發生dāng chūn nǎi fā shēngIt will fall when comes spring.
- 隨風潛入夜suí fēng qián rù yèWith wind it steals in night;
- 潤物細無聲rùn wù xì wú shēngMute, it moistens each thing.
- 野徑雲俱黑yě jìng yún jù hēiOver wild lanes dark cloud spreads;
- 江船火獨明jiāng chuán huǒ dú míngIn boat a lantern looms.
- 曉看紅溼處xiǎo kàn hóng shī chùDawn sees saturated reds;
- 花重錦官城huā zhòng jǐn guān chéngThe town's heavy with blooms.
Why this poem
Du Fu on spring rain that "moistens things without a sound". Around Qingming.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Clear and Bright.