Birthday poem · September 25Autumn Equinox, the 16th solar term: day and night are equal again.

Birthday poem card for September 25: “Reply to Vice-Prefect Zhang” by Wang Wei. Birth character 琴, zither.

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’

Other dates with this poem: November 24

The poem

“Reply to Vice-Prefect Zhang” 酬張少府

  1. 松風吹解帶The pine wind blows my sash loose;
  2. 山月照彈琴the mountain moon shines as I play the zither.
  3. 君問窮通理You ask the reason for success and failure —
  4. 漁歌入浦深a fisherman's song goes deep into the cove.

Wang Wei 王維 · Tang dynasty · 701–761 · five-character verse · excerpt

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

Wang Wei to a friend: no talk of success, only pine wind and mountain moon.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Autumn Equinox.

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