Birthday poem · June 14Grain in Ear, the 9th solar term: wheat harvest and rice planting.
Birth character
蓮 lián · lotus
蓮 combines 艸 "plant" with 連 as a sound element; it means lotus.
接天蓮葉無窮碧
“Lotus leaves touch the sky in endless green” — Yang Wanli, ‘Leaving Jingci Temple at Dawn’
The poem
“On the Pond” 池上
- 小娃撐小艇A little child poles a little boat,
- 偷採白蓮迴sneaking off with white lotus he has picked.
- 不解藏蹤跡He doesn't know to hide his tracks:
- 浮萍一道開a trail opens through the duckweed behind him.
Why this poem
A child steals white lotus and forgets to hide the trail. A summer scene by Bai Juyi.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Grain in Ear.