Birthday poem · October 14Cold Dew, the 17th solar term: temperatures drop and the dew turns cold.
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’
Other dates with this poem: August 8
The poem
“Down Through Jingmen in Autumn” 秋下荊門
- 霜落荊門江樹空Frost falls on Jingmen; the river trees are bare;
- 布帆無恙掛秋風my cloth sail, unharmed, hangs in the autumn wind.
- 此行不爲鱸魚鱠I make this trip not for the sliced perch of home —
- 自愛名山入剡中I simply love the famous mountains, and head for Shan.
Why this poem
Li Bai sails east in autumn, saying he goes to see famous mountains.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Cold Dew.