Birthday poem · June 27Summer Solstice, the 10th solar term: the longest day of the year.
Birth character
山 shān · mountain
山 is a picture of three peaks; it means mountain.
只緣身在此山中
“For we are lost in the heart of the very place.” — Su Shi, ‘Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple’
The poem
“Entering Ruoye Stream” 入若耶溪
- 蝉噪林逾靜The cicadas' din makes the woods even quieter;
- 鳥鳴山更幽a bird's call makes the mountain quieter still.
Why this poem
Wang Ji's lines: cicadas make the woods quieter, birdsong makes the hills deeper. A summer poem.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Summer Solstice.