Birthday poem · January 23Major Cold, the 24th solar term: the coldest time of the year.

Birthday poem card for January 23: “Silk-Washing Stream” by Su Shi. Birth character 松, pine.

Birth character

松 sōng · pine

松 combines 木 "tree" with 公 as a sound element; it means pine.

明月松間照
“Bright moon shines through the pines” — Wang Wei, ‘Autumn Evening in the Mountains’

The poem

“Silk-Washing Stream” 浣溪沙

  1. 山下蘭芽短浸溪At the foot of the hill, short orchid shoots dip into the stream;
  2. 松間沙路淨無泥the sandy path among the pines is clean, without mud.
  3. 誰道人生無再少Who says that in life we can't be young again?
  4. 門前流水尚能西Even the stream before my gate can flow west.

Su Shi 蘇軾 · Northern Song dynasty · 1037–1101 · ci (song lyric) · excerpt

English translation by Poetune.

Why this poem

Su Shi sees a stream flowing west and asks who says we cannot be young again.

This day in the Chinese calendar

Solar term: Major Cold.

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