Birthday poem · October 28Frost’s Descent, the 18th solar term: the first frosts.

Birthday poem card for October 28: “Night Rain: Sent North” by Li Shangyin. Birth character 山, mountain.

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 29

The poem

“Night Rain: Sent North” 夜雨寄北

  1. 君問歸期未有期jūn wèn guī qī wèi yǒu qīYou ask me when I am coming. I do not know.
  2. 巴山夜雨漲秋池bā shān yè yǔ zhǎng qiū chíI dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night with the rain.
  3. 何當共剪西窗燭hé dāng gòng jiǎn xī chuāng zhúOh, when shall we be trimming wicks again, together in your western window?
  4. 卻話巴山夜雨時què huà bā shān yè yǔ shíWhen shall I be hearing your voice again, all night in the rain?

Li Shangyin 李商隱 · Tang dynasty · c. 813–858 · seven-character verse

English translation by Poetune.

Read “Night Rain: Sent North” in full, with notes →

Why this poem

Li Shangyin to his wife: "when shall we trim the candle at the west window together?"

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Frost’s Descent.

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